This blog is a result of the heavy censoring of the media by the military dictatorship regime.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Evidence of Khaiyum's lies must be used to take him down

Oh, the tangled web we weave when first we seek to deceive.And so it's been for the military dictatorship which is now installed as a 'legally elected government'.

The lies that citizens are being dished up are not new: the only thing that's new is that the lies are being told in broad daylight, as part of every day business and in Parliament and being swallowed by some quarters, including the media, without challenge.Frank Bainimarama has done it but Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, who wields authority as Attorney General and Minister for Finance, is the worst and is truly a compulsive liar. In fact, Khaiyum has lied about so much that it's nothing to him to lie through the skin of his teeth in Parliament. Take the Rugby Sevens broadcasting scam. While delivering a ministerial statement on Tuesday December 9, regarding World Rugby's decision to pull the plug on live feed for the Dubai leg of the tournament because of his TV (Cross-Carriage of Designated Events) Decree, which forced Fiji TV to share feed with FBC TV (managed by his brother Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum), Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum defended the reasons for the Decree.He claimed a survey conducted by an American Company proved FBC TV had 50% market coverage while Fiji TV had only 43% and Mai TV 7%.

When Oposition MP Prem Singh interjected to the effect that the survey was carried out by Qorvis, Sayed-Khaiyum twice denied it was Qorvis. He didn't name the company. And yet it was established in December the survey was carried out by Clarus or Clarus Communications - the polling arm of Qorivs and wholly owned by Qorvis, which in the last few years has been paid millions of dollars to churn out pro Bainimarama and Sayed Khaiyum propaganda. FACT: another one million dollars has been budgeted this year as payment for Qorvis. This lie alone necessitates the need for Sayed-Khaiyum to be held for contempt of Parliament. We will soon expose another lie of his that is going to hurt the people of Fiji who were misled during the Budget. Meanwhile peruse the Parliamentary Hansard of Tuesday 9th December 2014 (at end of story) as well as other documents to judge for yourself the lies that Sayed Khaiyum is churning out, including in Parliament.

The two sacked Fiji TV executives have done an excellent job paper trailing the lies and the manipulation in one document which has been sent to Bainimarama but again as with many things, let it not be forgotten that Sayed-Khaiyum and Bainimarama are joined at the hip and act in their own self-interest. One tells the lies and the other offers him safe harbour. Look at the pay salary dispute and rugby sevens drama where Bainimarama has neatly stepped in to downplay them both by claiming the Opposition party is just being 'petty', is making a 'fuss' and is 'obsessed with Fiji TV management'.

Add to it the belated and shallow apology about the broken sewer pipes in Nabua and you have a well-oiled doubled act where Sayed-Khaiyum trots out the porkies and Bainimarama uses his position as 'beloved' PM to make citizens to swallow the shit.

@ V for Vendetta, The Ligairi I was refering to was Ross Ligairi,one of the very few highly intelligent and highly educated men who were just doing their work and being apolitical but suddenly dies within 48 hrs of getting sick.

Stop being a copycat,I was already using that alias on the blogs last year.

Well UNIFIL has invited Fiji back into its arms but why were we left out in the first place?? Aust and NZ are really jealous of our achievements and cant face the reality that we were becoming the 'top dog' in the UN.

Are you a junior? Why should Australia and NZ be tainted jealous hearts of Fiji's achievements, Fiji...just a tiny spec in the ocean compared to the two big powers? Putting your nonsense aside, take a closer look at what's being said here.

We believe that AIYAZ KHAIYUM, Maestro of Lies and Corruption should be held/charged for Contempt of Parliament.

I guess the Opposition will really have to take some drastic action and SHOW THEY DO HAVE THE AUTHORITY AND POWER!! As we know it, Aiyaz Khaiyum is the real Evil Dictator and Frank a low-life arrogant nobody who has risen to power by military force. Together combined they need to continue the crooked walk not only to increase and hoard their coffers but protect their scrawny necks! One definitely cannot do without the other!

We are now into a New year! The consequences for our nation have been dire, and are about to get worse. No matter all the media hog-washing efforts by Fiji Sun to brainwash the general public - the corruption and lies within this illegal government must stop somewhere some time soon!

The CORRUPTION PROPAGANDA is increasing with Fiji First - one just has to concentrate on Frank and how he has to continuously LIE to the people and lie against the Opposition each time he makes a speech. Aiyaz the EVIL SNAKE is 10 times worse!

What do we make of the Fiji Sun and FBC? Only the gullible have swallowed all its unethical code of practice.

The Fiji Sun is a public farce and sham; Fiji's worst-ever degrading newspaper because of the fact that it has resorted to impartial, unfair and inaccurate reporting, there's lack of experienced journalists, lack of sensitivity and lack of objectivity all incorporated, altogether a deliberate bunch of deceiving journalists loyal only to their CORRUPT masters - just have to read into their style of unfair reporting and you're likely to want to throw up!

While Qorvis is being paid millions with taxpayers monies to cover up and lie on behalf of the Fiji First Leaders, internationally, we have The Fiji Sun and FBC collaborating to do same in Fiji. SHAMELESS THUGS..the whole lot!!

I would have to concur that our problems stem from our acceptance of these rotten lying rogues in AIYAZ KHAIYUM and FRANK BAINIMARAMA!

Very compelling evidence against ASK and his team, including his brother. We all recall Vili Raikoro defending AG and saying that Tanya went behind the Board and informed WR not to provide the feed. What do you have to say now Vili? This is black and white evidence - can't argue with that.

V for Vendetta has published on this blog for three years at least. Tui Viti is the copycat. He's also a screwball. As is the case again this time, he rarely writes anything germane to the topic at hand. I much prefer reading Vendetta.

While we're doing great attacking the Fiji First thugs, we'd better be wary about the Dengue spread in the north..could easily come down to the south.

Would you guys believe that in the USA, Scientists have actually created GMO (genetically modified mosquitoes) mosquitoes to combat the real mosquitoes doing great damage to the populace in Florida?

Maybe in time to come, mosquito spread diseased countries like Fiji can import these GMO Mosquitoes to combat our local Fiji mozzies and get rid of Dengue and other diseases once and for all.

Just incredible. If they can create insects to kill other insects, can imagine how these scientists can also create insects to kill humanity! Just saying!

Millions of genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in the Florida Keys if British researchers win approval to use the bugs against two extremely painful viral diseases.

Never before have insects with modified DNA come so close to being set loose in a residential U.S. neighborhood.

"This is essentially using a mosquito as a drug to cure disease," said Michael Doyle, executive director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, which is waiting to hear if the Food and Drug Administration will allow the experiment.

Dengue and chikungunya are growing threats in the U.S., but some people are more frightened at the thought of being bitten by a genetically modified organism. More than 130,000 signed a Change.org petition against the experiment.

Even potential boosters say those responsible must do more to show that benefits outweigh the risks.

"I think the science is fine, they definitely can kill mosquitoes, but the GMO issue still sticks as something of a thorny issue for the general public," said Phil Lounibos, who studies mosquito control at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory. "It's not even so much about the science — you can't go ahead with something like this if public opinion is negative."

Mosquito controllers say they're running out of options that can kill Aedes aegypti, a tiger-striped invader whose biting females spread these viruses. Climate change and globalization are spreading tropical diseases farther from the equator, and Key West, the southernmost city in the continental U.S., is particularly vulnerable.

"An arriving person would be infectious for several days, and could infect many of the local mosquitoes," Doyle said. "Within a few weeks you'd likely end up with several infected mosquitoes for each infected visitor."

There are no vaccines or cures for dengue, known as "break-bone fever," or chikungunya, which causes painful contortions. U.S. cases remain rare for now, but dengue sickens 50 million people annually worldwide and kills 2.5 percent of the half-million who get severe cases, according to the World Health Organization. Chikungunya has already overwhelmed hospitals and harmed economies across the Caribbean after infecting a million people in the region last year.

Insecticides are sprayed year-round from helicopters and door-to-door in charming and crowded neighborhoods throughout the Keys. But because Aedes aegypti don't travel much and are repeatedly doused with the same chemicals, they have evolved to resist four of the six insecticides used to kill them.

Enter Oxitec, a British biotech firm launched by Oxford University researchers. They patented a method of breeding Aedes aegypti with fragments of proteins from the herpes simplex virus and E. coli bacteria as well as genes from coral and cabbage. This synthetic DNA has been used in thousands of experiments without harming lab animals, but it is fatal to the bugs, killing mosquito larvae before they can fly or bite.

I am sorry but the above so called evidence is not conclusive at all. There's documents about AG speech in parliament and Singh said it was Qorvis which AG rightly disagreed.

Clarus communications owned by Qorvis but it is not Qorvis. Therefore AG was not lying.

And there is not other report or poll to suggest Clarus reports were misleading.

Qorvis is contracted by Fiji government and Clarus is poll research arm of Qorvis all true but claiming Qorvis did the research or claiming that due to Qorvis having a contract with government means research was misleading is an absolute twisting of facts.

Lowly institute an Australian institution carried out a poll before election which showed overwhelming support for Bainimarama and straight away the Australian government and Fiji government opposition played down the results and reports.

Therefore it is pretty clear here that regardless if an international firm was contracted by Fiji government or did an independent research without Fiji government money or contract as long as the results is favourable to the Fiji government, oppositions will always claim the reports were misleading or corrupt.

The most clear evidence as well was the election itself. Where international observers analysis and reports proved it to be fair and democratic. Yet starting from opposition leader down to its supporters all claimed it was not fair.

Also if Qorvis or Clarus was corrupt remember they're a US company therefore don't you think the US will investigate them and suspend their business license.

Tui Viti, you're dreaming about Vili Orangutan Rakoro's vudi when you wrote those comments. Fiji's army is nowhere near NZ and Aust. the boys in the Fiji army are simply boy scouts hehehe.Go back and suck Vili's vudi because you two are perfect for each other lol

Vili - the evidence that we are referring too is the overwhelming evidence that AG did interfere (all thanks to AG incriminating himself and impeaching himself) and the fact the Naiveli and Fareed did not get board approval when they signed the agreement with FBC. You had catergorically stated that one of the Executives acted against the board'so directive.

Is this issue clarified enough? I'm not keen at all on discussing the Qorvis issue as the well written 74 page document by the 2 former Executives is a well written legal document which clearly the AG cannot defend- and he still has not defend. I was told that he is already singing out the snitch from Fiji TV - somebody's home will be on mortgagee sale, more if his partner is also a snitch.

Oh Vili pull your head out of your arse. Still adamant the election was fair. Read your own post and you will see exactly the twisting of facts you purport to accuse others of doing. But then again no one expects you to.

When you say Fiji's army is nowhere near NZ and Aust. Can you elaborate on your particular analysis? I am assuming you're speaking in terms of resources which I am agree within boundaries ofcause.

However if you're speaking in terms of operational capability, experience and strategies then I am compelled to disagree with you.

Majority of Fijians have made it to the American and British special force. Including their elite units like the American Marines, British Royal marines, British parachute unit as well as their land and armoured combat Infantry units.

Now most Fijians in the British and American special force were ex Fiji military. What these shows is that the capability of Fijian soldiers are highly recognised. On top of that the Fiji military working for the UN are highly respected.

Australia and New Zealand soldiers reputation, experience and recognition in terms of capability and experience in highly hostile theatres around the world is not on the same level as the Fijian. The Fijian soldiers have been praised on par with the Gurkahs soldiers and that is not something easily attained unless obviously it is on merit. These elite units around the world don't give out praises like politicians lie with the skin of their teeth to attract popularity and votes. These praises within the Military world are only given to those who truly live up and are worthy of it.

The British SAS best soldier was a Fijian Labalaba and he has a statue in the SAS camp in Hereford. And was also named as one the Queen's 60 most influential figure in her 60 th jubilee celebrations.

I have no disrespect whatsoever with NZ and Australia soldiers but to think that Fijian soldiers are not comparable to them is right only because the Fijian soldiers levels is way higher. Fijians soldiers are on par with US and UK soldiers hence most of them are in those forces.

Are you really that thick. As in most countries the government update the laws therefore private sectors have to amend and draw up updated terms and conditions of contracts. The Fiji TV company had a license issued by government which needed discussion to amend terms and conditions to take into consideration the updated media law. This updated agreement didn't need a board meeting for approval because it wasn't a request by government, it was an order which the board and executives had to follow whether they liked it or not.

The case of Tanya is separate and that 74 pages of document she wrote is not an evidence. It is in effect her take and opinion on what may or should have happened. And her contract termination was a decision by her employer and her companies shared holders board. This decision is the one she's accusing AG to have influenced. So stop trying to join the separate incidents.

When a government updates the media laws or any laws. All respective businesses affected will have to update their agreement. It's not a question of they'll need board meeting and approval to do it because it's a direct order by government through the updated laws end of.

The international observers reported that the election was fair. And the allegations of miscounting by SODELPA was investigated and the international observers were satisfied that there was no foul play.

Therefore they told the media and wrote in their after election reports which was available for every party members to read through their parties that the election was fair and successful. And prior to the election the Australian lowly institute did a private poll and their results was similar to the election results therefore it is conclusive that the election was fair.

Now if you're claiming it isn't then show us the evidence. SODELPA party claimed similar and had their evidence which was scrutinised and investigated and was found to be false. So of you have other evidence then show us.

If you want to read all about it go to the Fiji archives, Suva library or USP library and see it for yourself. I have been quoting and referencing those reports in here but stupid and idiot people like you are still asking gosh. Do you have trouble understanding.

Do not argue with an idiot (eg: Vili), they drag you down to a level where they beat you with experience".

As we all suspected- there are a number of Vili R. You are not the Viki R snitch from Fiji TV which everyone knows - sold out Anish Chand and then Tanya & Tevita Has a woman's mouth and so incompetent that he was pushed around Fiji TV for the past 8 years b/c he could not fit anywhere. You are the main JUDAS that told ASK and RSK all inside infor. You were gunning for CEO position - sorry, they don't take non qualified people who cannot put together a paper like what Tanya did for CEO position unless of course you are RSK.

Tanya is very intelligent and she discerns things - so all thanks to the Fiji TV Viili R (snitch), she and her team of Angels were able to flush out the traitor - no help as well when ASK and RSK are singing out the FTV snitches. When you are looking at imprisonment team - you will even rattle out your mother. Welcome to Democracy!

I have never stated anywhere in my comments that Tanya is not intelligence. I have said that in terms of her professional capabilities I have no doubt and kind of admire her because she is a great role model for our girls who will strive to rise above in the professional work place.

Her only weakness was that she chose at times not to follow directives of her superiors. It could be that she probably thinks she knows better and she probably could be right too. However everyone knows sometimes we just simply have to follow what our boss said regardless of our thoughts and wishes.

Honestly speaking if I had the authority I would give Tanya her job back but on a tight leash that if she re offends she will be demoted. Because as much as she is a nuisance to authority she is great at her job.

Vili- you know that one of you own has been caught from Fiji TV, the one that feeds ASK and RSK. In fact all 3 were busy exchanging viber messages this morning- he is so worried(Fiji TV snitch)

You think a professional woman like Tanya will want to go back on a demotion to FTV which the whole of Fiji and the world, including FFP MPs themselves know that she was removed for no reason whatsoever? Are you that stupid as well? Our fight is not with you- it is against the liars, Deceivers, snakes and judases.

Don't worry about Tanya's future- her God will provide for her as always. You snitches at Fiji TV should be worried- their names just might be revealed on this blog site. So behave with your postings and be mindful of your comments of against the 2 former Fiji TV executives. You just might be named as well.

Interesting but baffling to see the Prime Minister attempting to justify the TV 7s fiasco while opening a health centre.

Sentimental words that are bound to appeal to the emotions of a nation that thrives on a 7s diet throughout the 7s season.

The Prime Minister declared: “I’m not interested in anything other than giving every Fijian, no matter where they live, the right to see our national team – the pride of our nation compete on the international stage.

“And we make no apology as a government for doing everything humanly possible to make sure that happened.”

There is more than 7s rugby at stake here. Most people certainly support the notion of providing free coverage of the game but done with reason, within the law and business principles, bearing in mind the interests of all stakeholders.

For example the glaring disparity between the licenses issued to Fiji TV and FBC TV needs to be clarified by the Government. Why the different treatment?

In March last year the head of UN peacekeeping stated he planned to contact the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Polynesian Leaders Group as potential vehicles for generating rapid deployment capabilities.

And there's plans to open a peace keeping centre in Fiji where personnel from around the region including Australia and NZ will be trained before deploying for UN missions around the world.

This personnel will be trained by highly trained and experienced Fijian Soldiers. And Australia through their media have called to support Fiji.

So in other words they wanna be seen as important by assisting Fiji. They're embarrassed that the UN didn't request for the peacekeeping centre to be based in Australia. The UN trusted and wanted Fiji to be the base and training provider for the peacekeeping centre in the region.

How's that for validation on the operation capability and endorsement of Fijian soldiers prowess.

Boy oh boy if I have a dollar for everytime I receive accusation I will be able to buy this blog domain. What really makes it sweeter is that all of those accusing me are posting under anonymous or fake names.

They don't have the guts to open an account in their name and post under that. So my answer is a look of sadness as I feel their frustration and desperation to be heard.

Boom- you got Vili's name RIGHT- the infamous JUDAS at Fiji TV., he leaked all the discussions on WR to ASK and RSK - his wife, Karen, was part(in and out) of the WR saga- she chickened out last minute.

Fernando, bring the coward that he is will now reveal all the name of VR's trolls.

Vili Boci, why don't you publish your real name and what you do so we know who you really are asshole. Or are you going to hide behind a made up name like your mother hiding the fact that you're not her biological wanker?

Late last year a United States law framed in the name of world peace quietly reached its long arm into a small Melbourne tribunal, persuading it to let a large armaments manufacturer override Australian human rights legislation.

In a decision that went largely unremarked upon, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) agreed to let Thales Australia Ltd and its subsidiary ADI Munitions discriminate racially against their employees, job applicants and contract workers.

The companies won a five-year exemption from six sections of the Equal Opportunity Act so they could comply with stringent US export laws that describe who can and who cannot have access to American military technology and know-how.

Simon Rice, an Australian National University law professor, could only sigh. He is an almost lone voice against the Americans’ capacity for such strongarm tactics in Australian courts.

“It’s legal imperialism,” says Rice, who chairs the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council. “It’s the US saying to everybody in the world: You will deal with us on the terms we will dictate to you.”

There have been scores of such decisions in small courts across the nation since at least 2003, when the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal granted Boeing Australia Holdings some of the first such exemptions.

So Australia have been preaching to us about human rights and as their treatment of Aborigines and asylums on Manu islands in PNG they're still at it through their courts for crying out loud lol.

Are you for real. You call those Fijian soldiers in Golan cowards when they were following orders is wow mind blowing.

The military success is build by the chain of command. The higher ranks in the UN were aware of the situation and we're working on negotiations.

Firstly when the Fijian soldiers were surrounded it was by over 400 rebels. They were simply outnumbered. Strength is measured by making the right decisions under duress.

Had the Fijian Soldiers reacted there would have definitely been casualties. So they asked for further information from base camp and their commanders ordered them to stand down which they followed to the letter hence they are now still alive.

Being a soldier is not only about fighting but having the ability to choose when. If 3 people have their weapons pointed at you then choosing to fight is the wrong devisions. And also if you chose not to it doesn't make you a coward.

The Fijian soldiers action elevated their reputation further to be disciplined and professional soldiers who most importantly follow the chain of command.

And now the UN are going ahead with their plan they announced in March last year to set up a peacekeeping centre in Fiji to train and prepare troops in our region which includes Australia and NZ for UN missions around the world.

They didn't choose Australia or NZ to be the centre base and training provider they chose Fiji and Fiji soldiers. The UN military head a General chose to spend new year with the Fijian soldiers in Golan. That is a sign of respect the UN and its military head has for Fijian soldiers.

The only coward here are people like you who have no idea as to the stress and pressure our troops felt under intense situation and still acted professionally and you think they're a coward. Wow.

Vili Rakoro the smarty pants who knows everything...I say a jack of all trade I suppose...why don't you take your tongue and go and wipe it on those public toilets that still needs to be repaired by the FFP.Oh and take a free Rubbish Bin so that you can puke on it....

You failed to prove that the international observers declared our elections "free and fair", becayse they never did.

The international community is grateful for the peacekeeping contributions of the Fiji military, but it must be said that the RFMF disgraced itself in the Golan Heights.

By the way, Vili, who in Suva's high command ratified the UN commander's decision to surrender the RFMF's position? The fact that our troops were not harmed is due only to the grace of God and the willingness of Al Nusra terrorists to accept a $20 million ransom for them. Otherwise, Al Nusra could have simply decided to behead every last man of them.

The Aussies and the Kiwis aren't sending troops to PKOs. So, naturally the UN would want to set up training bases in countries that contribute troops, not in countries that do not.

This doesn't mean that RFMF are some of the world's best troops. In fact, they're mostly an unprofessional lot who overthrew their own government and cowards who bully their own people. It just shows that the UN is now forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Tanya Waqanika knows who Vili Rakoro is. She posted this on her facebook:

Vili Rakoro- sold out by the Deceiver and the Snake themselves with their loud mouths. I caught you and I KNOW YOU!! Your commentaries and writing style is so you- bitterness, jealous, unqualified, disrespectful, disloyal.. The difference between you and I..I have qualifications, experience, ethics, loyalty, honesty and Measured results which you cannot match - you have none of this. You must be squirming b/c you are caught. Truly no honor amongst thieves. What happened to you that made you turn out this way? I had told you to come and apologize to Tevita and I before it is too late- you are late now.

hunter- Certainly makes sense that Fernando is the snitch- everyone at Fiji TV knows never to trust him and his wife. He openly admits that he speaks to ASK. He was blamed for leaking and blaming Anish to AsK- there were only 6 people in the boardroom including Fernando. We all suspected him and sadly, his own blood cousin, Tanya stood up for him and spoke in his defense. We had warned Tanya so many times to be weary of these 2 - pray that she does not read or know of this posts.

When Tanya was given the position of Head of Content, Fernando was mad and questioned why his wife, Karen Lobendahn was not given the post in a management meeting. who fights for their spouses in a professional environment? Fareed and Tevita knew that Tanya was the right person for the job- she has a proven record. I read one of her FB postings on her achievements as Head of Content in the 14 months, very outstanding. Doubt that anyone can achieve that.

Vili Orangutan Rakoro, read what anonymous at 3.28pm wrote. Soldiers in the NZ and Aust armies are professionals and very disciplined, they don't go beating up civilians, women and vulnerable citizens. Their commanders don't beat up pregnant women, like your asshole Voceke Baimagaitinamu. That incident in the Golan Heights showed they're cowards, they're only good at beating up innocent citizens.

Shame on you you useless piece of shit Vili.No wonder your mother dropped you at birth lol

Tanya has already shut up Vili (Fernando) by the look of things. Fernando is not a Kai Naitasiri but the property (NLTB sub- division) that he bought from his mother is on Naitasiri land. Just studying all the words that he uses(none on this story item but the ones which contains other Fiji TV stories- it is just him all over. His mother is Lomanikoro, Rewa - cousin's with Tanya's mum- all from the same village. Check out his FB posting on 16th Dec "Something good to come home too".... He was glad that she was kicked out when he posted these words (the day Tanya was removed). He actually mocked her - but now she will surely know that it is him. You better start running to FBC for a job and take Karen with you- everyone at Fiji TV now knows what you 2 did to someone who was respected and well liked at Fiji TV. In fact, it irked you that she kept talking against ASK - he has already sold you out to all his Muslim friends (they can't stand ASK as well).. The have already sold you out Fernando- you are not one of them.

You really have no idea don't you. No one in Fiji's command needed to ratified any decision by the UN command. When troops are deployed for the UN their command have agreed to release the command to the appointed UN military command. Every UN troop does that.

And yes the UN would want to set up base in a country that has proven operation capability in hostile area. Australia and New Zealand military don't send their troops to the UN therefore they lack the necessary capabilities and experience to train and prepare troops for hostile operational theatre.

Australia and New Zealand troops can just continue working in natural disaster relief operation and continue training. Few years back there were reports about a Australian military helicopter that crashed itself on its Naval ship. Great example of Australian military capability. Let alone the terrorists operation last year which the Australian defence force were found out to be just incapable of handling hostile situations. So to have them train Fijian troops for UN hostile operational theatre was just a big no no for the UN. Especially when the Fijian military were better and more experienced.

That begs the question if these Australian and New Zealand military troops aren't getting the experience in UN hostile operational theatres then on what basis are you lot basing your opinions on as to their professional and operational capability?

There are some changes happening in the tactical set up of the ADF which we must study and learn from.

These are changes which we can also benefit from because its based on their recent experiences in Afghanistan.

They have recently started working towards changing the structure of their Infantry battalion so that their standard rifle company is to be built on four man fire teams of a Commander, grenadier, machine gunner and marksman.

Their Commander will be armed with a Steyr F88, The squad heavy weapon will be the Mg 58, the Grenadier the grenade launcher plus an 84mm Carl Gustav.

Within each section they will have three fire teams.

One of the things they had problems with in Afghanistan is the RPG.

They realised that the M203's and the Vietnam eta M79's and the LAWS don't compare with the RPG in terms of versatility when it came to the tactical theatre they found in Afghanistan.

So what they have come up with is the Carl Gustav 84 mm which is an adaptation the Yanks had to take on in Afghanistan because they were being outgunned at the fire team level by the Taliban in every single contact due to the versatility and range of the RPG.

That's just a tactical modification which is an upgrade to capabilities that soldiers over here in Fiji will eventually be required to study and understand because its a tactical evolution that takes into account the new type of tactical warfare which is currently being fought in all the hotspots across the world.

If you are an RFMF soldier you will know that every soldier has to learn weapons and keeps a notebook of the different types of weapons and their ins and outs and the tactical use of those weapons.

And you will know that just because the RFMF has not been eye to eye with the Aussies over the last eight years it doesn't mean that the RFMF has not kept an eye on what the ADF has been going on the structural front in terms of their land warfare for their light infantry.

The ADF and NZDF have learnt a lot of tactical lessons in Afghanistan in the last 14 years which we we will do well to also study and learn from.

The ADF has several years of hands-on experience fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Closer to home, it has many years of experience in RAMSI. These are not just the semi-passive personal protective details, compound guard duties, and observer roles that the RFMF has had but aggressive search-and-destroy and other missions.

You can mock the ADF for losing a helicopter aboard its ship during deployment, but at least it HAS ships with rotary-wing assets. Also bear in mind that Fiji's own vessels were donated by Australia as part of its Pacific Patrol Boat Programme. Were it not for the ADF, Rear Admiral Bainimarama would never have had a navy to command.

Tactics and the refinement of tactics can come from your own experience as well as the observation of the experience of others.

The fact that the ADF has had several years of war-fighting experience in Afghanistan does not mean anything unless the experience gained (both good and bad) provide a platform for enhancement of skills and capabilities.

What Afghanistan showed is that at the fire team level the Taliban tactically out-manouvered not only the ADF but even the Yanks consistently throughout those 14 years such that the Yanks had to make changes to their fire team weaponry by bringing in the Carl Gustav. So too the ADF.

There are valuable lessons to be learnt from Afghanistan because it represents a defeat of the ADF (as well as the Yanks and NATO) at the hands of the Taliban.

So whatever the ADF has in that regard doesn't really apply to us in terms of the light infantry capabilities of the RFMF.

What is relevant to the RFMF is the restructure that the ADF now wants to implement with their basic fire teams and the tactical reasoning and logic for why they want to do things that way.

Its probable that the traditional platoon structure which the ADF went with to Afghanistan is now being seen by their guys to have been too cumbersome for the type of mobile warfare and fire and manouver tactics that the Taliban used against them. Hence the restructure into smaller mobile fire teams with heavier fire capacity.

In terms of their air assets the fact is that in Afghanistan the Taliban dispersed their teams and used cover and concealment on fixed locations to counter and nullify the air superiority of NATO.

That particular tactic adopted by the Australian is a British Military one which the Fiji Military have been using. Even before 2000 the Fiji Military were using that tactic which was introduced by a Fijian ex British SAS and instructor. Ligairi was also responsible for setting up Fiji military special force and used the same tactic he had experienced and trained in the British SAS.

The Fijian army works in sections of 6 man team. And in a platoon it has 4 sections. In that team they have a nominated fire support section and a flanking sections with 2 attacking sections. So if they were in a situation two sections attacks, one sets up fire support, this one normally has their heavy machine gun and their sniper.

The flank sections then tries to go around and attack from the side. Normally same side as the fire support section. And the idea is to squeeze the opponents in a triangular sort of way. They have attacking sections on one side, fire support on one in the middle and flanking section on the other side.

This idea is used by the British and is known to be a very effective one. So if the Australian are only just learning to adopt this tactic then they're way behind the Fijian military.

In Afghanistan that Tactical set up failed to function against the mobility of the Taliban.

When you have nominated flanking, attacking and fire support sections you get into trouble if one of those sections gets pinned down because it wrecks your equilibrium.

The ADF found out in contact that their Scout Group, Gun group and Rifle group set up couldn't manouver when the Taliban switched points of fire in the middle of battles. It left the ADF flatfooted. The same happened to the regular British Army units as well as the US forces

That's why almost all the contacts that they had with the Taliban required the calling in of fire support. They were not only outgunned and out manouvered but worse they were pinned down and even fired upon from multiple directions by fluid and mobile Taliban teams.

The Taliban switched points of fires in the middle of battles. That's a very coordinated and very well drilled team that does that sort of thing.

The Taliban took the Yanks and the ADF and NATO to school over the last 14 years.

Ligairi did not teach the 6 man section to the RFMF. That is the old standard which has been used in the RFMF for ages way back to Malaya.

That is also not the 22nd SAS base patrol formation. The British SAS works on 4 man fire teams and use tactical attack, retreat, withdraw and patrol formations which are very similar to that of the Taliban.

An SAS team can switch fires and/or interlock fires by simply shifting the position/ focus of the guys on a fire team. They also have patrol formations which allow them to place fires within a 360 degrees at the drop of a hat. Those tactics remain confidential for obvious reasons, even within the RFMF. Those formations were taught by Ligairi over here.

Yeah Afghanistan remains a true testing ground for light Infantry combat units. I've heard that even special forced from US and UK find it difficult. One of the greatest disadvantages I heard was the terrain and obviously the fighting skills of the taliban. Explains why Russia, US and UK find operation there difficult and probably unwinnable.

I am aware of the British SAS 4 man team which was also adopted by the US SF. I was referencing Ligairi more as eventhough he was an SAS major and instructor he would have been aware of the other British elite units tactics too that I am assuming is a 6 man based sections. Those like their Royal Marines, Parachute regiment and their land Infantry units.

Anyways speaking to various of our boys in the British Army, Fijian Army and those now doing private contracts they were all saying that the 3 elements that has elevated the Fijian Soldiers reputation are those in the Fijian Army operating under UN, Those Fijian in the British Army and the ones who have moved on to Private Contractors.

The Australian Soldiers are probably a level below the Fijian Soldiers but probably still good. And the New Zealand Soldiers well to be honest I didn't even know they had an Army. I hardly hear about them.

Thanks, Vili, for gving us the benefit of your vast military experience. It's amazing to me how you're able to speak so authoritaitvely on so many different subjects. A real Renassance man!

I'm especially proud to know our boys are way ahead of the Australian military. The six-man team now makes total sense to me — one man to hold each limb, one to prod his anus with a rifle barrel, and another to stifle the screams and film him with the squad camera phone. The Aussies are still light years behind us on this tactic.

Everyone talking about tactics and bullshit mean while the Taliban has a different outlook on things.A bunch of tribal men running around with fucking flip flops on and rags using old crappy weapons, planting mines and pressure plates, screaming allah snack bar sucide booming using common sense or anything that will help defend their homeland.These guys don't give a fuck about wether what 4-8 or 100 man team but taking anyone down with them.they don't give a fuck about life and death .If they caught any of us they probably molest our black and brown assholes. Just like in the Golan!!! surrender our arms and be a bitch!!!! we are very lucky coming out alive in shallah!!!!!. Men who fight in flip flops and travel on fucking donkey's and horseback with shitty banged up hilux.who kicked out the British empire, the Soviet union and today it's The whole of NATO and Isaf troops that is fucking embarrassing. Back to Fiji now are we going to kick these dictatorship daylight robbers out or just be the bitch like we always have?

The biggest problem for the US and ADF and NATO in Afghanistan is their inability to understand the culture. That's the problem.

When you use words like "mutherfucker" and "fuck" to your own Afghan friendlies and go to villages and don't even show respect to their village then you will have alienation and eventually outright dislike which contributes to the growth of the insurgency.

Sir Frank Kitson wrote a book which every SF officer in the Commonwealth (at least in the British Army and also it was in the RFMF when Ligairi was in charge) is required to read. Its a book about Insurgency, Peacekeeping and Low Intensity operations. He explains very clearly the complexities involved, and one of them is the cultural complexity. If you cannot assimilate with the local culture then its a waste of time

Assimilating with the local culture takes away more then 80% of the need to fight because you win hearts and minds. You make friends not enemies.

Force is to be avoided, if at all possible, and every effort must be made to find alternative methods addressing the issues.

The ADF made similar mistakes on Bouganville against the BRA when they used the PNGDF as a proxy to engage in a murderous campaign against Bouganville which ended in disaster, and its clear that they probably never learnt from that experience.

Pensioners in Fiji are screwed. First the regime forces you into unplanned early retirement with no prior notice. Then it devalues the Fiji dollar. After that it breaches the FNPF contract by unilaterally introducing arbitrary needs testing and plannng to reduce future pension rates. And don't forget, of course, that its patently unfair actions cannot be challenged.

Why any pensioner or anyone else who plans eventually to retire would ever vote for this regime is completely unfathomable.

Knowledge is in your hands called the world wide Web. Unfortunately you prefer to post childish comments rather then use that keyboard and learn a few things of any subject being discussed so you too can contribute to the debate or discussions.

Oh well can't expect much from people like you who are filled with hatred and pure vendetta. The sort of people that will proudly speak ill of the dead and call anyone who opposes your view petty names.

Are you not embarrassed at how childish and idiotic you come across. Tell you what keep swearing and posting nonsense because that seems to make you happy.

He has been governing for the last 8 years and people are still having Water Rationing BLAH BLAH BLAH.

His government has the worst record for Suicide in Fiji.Worst record for Murder and other Criminal ActivitiesWorst record for Child MolestationsWorst record for Domestic ViolenceWorst record for Corruption.

Even Lautoka Hospital now has no Pathology Service....SO IF AN Indian NOW IS BROUGHT IN AFTER AN ACCIDENT....HOW WILL THE DOCTOR KNOW HOW MUCH BLOOD HE HAS LOSTWHETHER TO TRANSFUSE OR NOT?

WHAT?SEND THE BLOOD TO SUVA?WTF?May be the Dr can shove his finger up the patients arse and pull it out and TAKE A GUESS WHETHER HE SHOULD TRANSFUSE A PATIENT OR NOT.

YEAH REALLY GOOD GOVERNMENT?

BUNCH OF FARKHEADS!

SO YEAH IF I SAY BAINIMARAMA's Government is SHIT....THAT'S BECAUSE ITS TRUE.

BAINIMARAMA AND AIYAZ KAIYUM AMND ALL FFP PEOPLE ARE JUST FULL OF BULLSHIT, AND DONT CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE.

Jim Vakatalai kindly shares his Eulogy to Fred, which he read at the Funeral

I would like to thank Wil [Fred's son] for asking me to say a few words about Fred Marafono.

Fred was born on the Island of Rotuma. Long before the Union Jack came to the Fiji Islands the Rotumans were famous for two things; Sailors and Mercenaries. He enlisted in the Shropshire Light Infantry and became the first Fijian to pass the SAS selection. He joined B Squadron in 1964. For the next 21 years he devoted his life to the SAS. The first 4 years were a continuous round of operational tours; from the jungles of Borneo, the moonscape of the Radfan to the back streets and alleys of Aden. Fred thrived and flourished in this diverse environment. He was a military man through and through but he will stand up to authority when it is abused. I remember his point blank refusal to obey the orders of the Camp RSM in Waterloo Lines, in Aden. He was put in jail pending a court martial and the end of his SAS career. Fred was fortunate to have a friend in HQ Middle East Land Forces. Major Viscount Slim turned up in Waterloo Lines and sprang him out. Fred was forever grateful for this one act of faith.

In 1969 he married Angie. She proved to be the stable bedrock that would help raise their family while he pursued SAS and Foreign Office commitments all over the world.

The 70s started with the secret war in Dhofar. Once again Fred was outstanding in leading tribal groups against communist’s guerrillas. By the end of the 70s he was operating in Northern Ireland.

In 1980, B Squadron changed the SAS profile forever with operation Nimrod at the Iranian Embassy. Fred’s last operational deployment was in the Falklands war.

He was appointed MBE in 1983.I would like to read a few lines from the citation: “ It is doubtful whether any NCO or Officer can equal the number of operations which WO1 Marafono had volunteered for and taken part in. On all, his standards of leadership and gallantry have been a positive inspiration to subordinates and superiors alike… Over many years he has consistently put the services needs before his own, and has been a key figure in influencing many matters of Regimental and National importance.”

Fred left the Army as SSM of B Squadron in 1985. He was recruited by Sir David Stirling, the founder of the SAS. Andy Valters still remember the day Sir David turned to him and said “ There goes a man I would give my right arm to have at El Alamein”.

After Sir David’s death Fred worked for a Gold Mining Company in Sierra Leone. The country descended into a bloody civil war. Many a man would have walked away; but Fred was full of humanity and sympathy for the common man. He stayed and fought for them. Tributes have flowed in from his comrades from that era, praising a single minded, courageous and funny soldier.

In September 2000 the SAS mounted a rescue operation in Sierra Leone. Harry B. told me of his surprise, delight and relief when he boarded a Sierra Leone Gunship to be greeted by the gunner; Fred. Fred was still supporting the SAS 3 months short of his 69th birthday.

The situation in Sierra Leone deteriorated. Fred was only a candle flame, lost in the depth of profound darkness…

He moved to Manchester in 2006. But such is the way of the world in the kaleidoscope of life, he spent his last few years in Hereford, surrounded and cared for by a loving family.

In memory of Fred I would like to share a few lines from ‘ A Shropshire Lad’ by A. E. Houseman.

Jim served a total of 24 years with the British Army, 21 years of which were served in 22 SAS Regiment. He saw active service in the far and Middle East as well as in Northern Ireland during the height of “The Troubles”. During his service he also worked closely with the foreign and commonwealth office in the fight against terrorism. Jim left the SAS as the chief instructor of the counter-revolutionary warfare wing, responsible for the training of the SAS, affiliated special forces and security agencies in a variety of core specialist security skills including close protection, surveillance, hostage rescue, and close quarter shooting skills.

After making a successful transition into the civilian specialist security sector, Jim has provided close protection teams for foreign heads of state, middle eastern royal families, and corporate CEO’s from Fortune 500 companies. He has worked worldwide in the training a provision of CP Teams for VIP’s who have considered themselves and their families to be at risk. Additionally, he has carried out surveillance assignments in the UK, Europe, South America, and the Middle East for commercial companies. He has also been involved in training surveillance skills to a number of UK government agencies.

Colonel John Douglas Slim, 2nd Viscount Slim OBE, DL, FRGS (born 20 July 1927) is a British peer and soldier. He is one of the 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords, elected to remain after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999. In 1970, he succeeded to his father's title. He sits as a crossbencher.

The son of the 1st Viscount Slim, he was educated at Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College in Dehra Dun in India. In 1944, Slim joined the British Indian Army 6th Gurkha Rifles and was transferred to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1948. He entered the Special Air Service in 1952. From 1961, he was instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, and from 1964 at the Joint Services Staff College. In 1972, he retired from the armed forces at the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel with a later honorary promotion to Colonel. He was appointed OBE the following year.

Slim was chairman of Peek plc from 1976 to 1991, deputy chairman from 1991 to 1996, and eventually consultant from 1996 to 2003. He was further director of Trailfinders travel company and Trustee of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL). Since 1971, he is president of Burma Star Association and since 2000 president of SAS Association. He is also Patron of Prospect Burma, a London based charity that offers higher education scholarships to Burmese students as well as the Graham Layton Trust, a British charity which helps to raise money for eyecare in Pakistan. Having been chairman in the past, he is now vice-president of the Britain–Australia Society. From 1977 to 1996, he was vice-chairman of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. In 1983, Slim was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Between 1995 and 1996, he was also Master of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers. He serves as an honorary chairman of The OSS Society.

Since 1958, he has been married to Elisabeth Spinney. They have two sons, including his heir apparent Mark William Rawdon Slim, and one daughter.

Vili Monkey Rakoro, you're absolutely correct about the Fiji army being held in high regard. That's because it is the only army in the world that shoving rifles up an anus is classed as a military exercise. Vili knows this very well because his anus was also used.

It is also the only army in the world that has soldiers watching the commander beating a pregnant woman.

According to the 6,000-page Senate CIA report our representatives committed the following acts of torture on “enemy combatants” (Keep in mind what the Geneva Convention rules are): 1.Walling is the practice of slamming prisoners against a wall repeatedly, aided by a collar around the neck of the prisoner. Slamming prisoners against concrete walls caused too many injuries so EIT interrogators constructed walls made of plywood for the purpose.2.Sleep Deprivation was practiced on some prisoners for up to a week, most of it in a forced standing position. The record was evidently established by Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the main designer of the 9/11 attack. He was kept awake for 180 hours, almost all in a standing position. The record indicates he was waterboarded 183 times, but that is hard to believe. Prisoners deemed more important than others suffered greater sleep deprivation. One prisoner by the name of Gul Rahman was kept awake for 48 hours while enduring extremely loud music, total darkness, isolation in a cell, cold showers, and other “rough treatment,” according to records. He later died at Gitmo.3.Rectal Hydration and diapers were often used to humiliate prisoners. Prisoners transported to Gitmo from “dark sites” and Afghanistan and Iraq were forced to wear diapers during flights while lying strapped to the floors of planes. They were not allowed to use lavatories. The CIA did have a general practice of a maximum of three days for each diaper wear. Rectal hydration or “rectal feeding” had no practical medical purpose according to medical experts but was often used to humiliate and cause pain. Large tubes were shoved up the anus of prisoners and water and certain “foods” were pumped into the tube. One detainee was rectally fed hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts, and raisins after the mess was pureed. The colon does not digest food. It is not part of the digestive process. Some prisoners went on hunger strikes, so many times both IVs and rectal feeding was used instead of shoving a tube down the nose into the stomach for forced feeding.4.Waterboarding has been around for hundreds of years. Historians write it was developed by the Roman Catholic Church during the many Inquisitions held in the Middle Ages. Cheney, with a tone of voice that says his words have come down from Devil’s Tower on stone tablets, says waterboarding means nothing, “It’s just a little water.” I would mortgage our house to watch Cheney being waterboarded on the Washington Mall, with all proceeds going to pay off the national debt. He also contributed another lie from his stone tablets: “Deficits don’t matter.” He claimed on Meet the Press that waterboarding is not torture and that no one had ever been convicted of it. Cheney, it seems, has his own private history. In the Tokyo war trials we sentenced several Japanese soldiers to long prison terms for waterboarding some of our troops.

5.Confinement in small places was another torture on the list. Terrorist Abu Zubaydah suffered what is called a “20-day aggressive phase of interrogation” in the CIA records. He spent 266 hours (11 days, 2 hours) in a coffin-sized box (“You will never get out of this box alive!”) and 29 straight hours in a small confinement box measuring 21” wide and 2.5-ft. deep. He was nude except for diapers. On occasion insects were caught and placed within small confinement boxes.6.In the “Rough Takedown” technique about a half dozen interrogators would scream at and grab a detainee, drag him out into the hall outside his cell, cut and strip all of his clothes off, secure his wrists with tape, place a hood on his head, and then drag him up and down the hall while slapping and punching him. One detainee died during a takedown. Nudity was always a big deal with the CIA because Muslims have a different idea about nudity than we do. Remember the pictures and stories out of Abu Ghraib? A female CIA interrogator would bare her breasts and then press them against the bare back of a detainee.7.Titillating the testicles with electric wires was never photographed that we know of, although the CIA has over 2,100 classified pictures of torture conducted by interrogators. The American Civil Liberties Union and many newspapers are suing the government to release those pictures. The pictures will surely add more horrific images to our present extensive list. Remember the famous Abu Ghraib photo of the diapered detainee with a hood holding electric wires in his hands? Take a guess about what happened to him.8.This is a torture list used by the CIA: (a) Placing a detainee in a standing stress position with hands hooked to ceilings for 2.5 days, (b) Threatening family members with beatings and rapes, (c) Promising detainees they would never leave captivity alive, (d) Placing a pistol near the hood and pulling the trigger again and again, (e) Operating a cordless drill near the hood or near genitalia (Remember the bodies picked up in Baghdad with holes drilled in heads and other body parts?), (f) Placing detainees in ice water baths or keeping cells and torture rooms very cold, (g) Insult slaps to the face and body and stress positions were often employed to wear down a detainee, (h) Mock executions were used in at least two cases, (i) Posing soldiers with “dead” corpses, (j) Binding ankles and elbows behind the back while the detainee faces downward, making it very difficult to breathe.

Thank you for sharing that beautiful eulogy of a brave son of Fiji, a true soldier whose life working in many dark corners of the globe seemed to reflect to me that he understood that "in the kaleidoscope of life" - El Shaddai remains the only constant. The same. From age to age. Was, Is and Always...

AN investigation has been launched by the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs on the circulation and sale of fake tabua (whale's tooth) in the country.

Being aware of this issue, which it said had been going on for some time, it took a serious twist when one of the fake whale's tooth was presented to the Prime Minister Rear Admiral (Ret) Voreqe Bainimarama, in one of his official engagements in Tailevu recently.

Top Government and Judiciary members conspicuously stayed away from the Australia Day celebrations in Suva last night.It underscored continuing concerns in Suva over attitudes of Australian diplomats here, including High Commissioner Margaret Twomey, well informed sources said.Among those not at the high commission’s function were Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Chief Justice Anthony Gates.All were invited and all were in town.It came at the end of a day when Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had warmly praised Fiji in a message published only by the Fiji Sun. But in marked contrast High Commissioner Twomey same time barely mentioned Fiji in a message published by both daily newspapers.This reemphasised concerns of a chasm in attitude towards Fiji. This is between the warmth of Ms Bishop – potentially Australia’s next Prime Minister – and hardline bureaucrats and diplomats working in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.These are the people who drove the now widely discredited failed Australian policy of trying to isolate Fiji.Questions are being asked about whether these attitudes have changed at the high commission and the role Ms Twomey is playing in this since her arrival from Canberra.An example is Chief Justice Gates, whose judiciary was a major victim of the isolate Fiji policy. He is believed to have been sent an invitation which addressed him as “Mr Gates”. That is without the honorifics of his position. In terms of protocol that is regarded as a significant slap in the face.The high commission also continues to snub such senior figures as Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde, a New Zealander, and prominent Australians who have worked for the Bainimarama Government. These include Sharon Smith-Johns, the former Permanent Secretary for Information.Such a continuing generally high handed attitude from the high commission is said to be causing growing offence.There are also questions over the high commission’s local media strategies.Local media were told last night’s event was closed to the media. But Fiji Times general manager/publisher Hank Arts was seen driving into the walled high commission compound on Princes Road to attend.The former local communications specialist at the high commission, the now retired Dennis Rounds, has been negative about the Bainimarama Government on social media.His successor, Mere Nailatikau, is the daughter-in-law of Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) leader Ro Teimumu Kepa.Only two ministers attended, Mereseini Vuniwaqa, Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources, and Jioji Konrote, Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations. Expectation was high yesterday that Mr Bainimarama would attend after his positive message to his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott.

@ANONYMOUS 6:56 pmIf people were invited but then they did not attend...then I think it would be silly of them to then to go on to speculate what was being said and done.

It does nothing but feed their already twisted paranoid and delusional minds.

If Bainimarama does not want to attend, that's his loss.

He is farked in the head anyway.

Australia is the BIGGEST contributor of any foreign government to the Fiji Economy (via TOURISM, TRADE, CHARITY and REMITTANCE)and this farken wanker does not even have the courtesy to attend.FARKIN LOSER!

To have a friend, be a friend. Isn't that what they say? But the hardened attitude of the Bainimarama regime (yes, regime) towards Australia remains unchanged, despite Canberra's various attempts at outreach.

It's understandable why Bainimarama and Gates (himself an Australian passport holder) would feel antipathy towards the Australian government, given the difficulties they've experienced on account of Canberra's past punitive—and often petty—policies towards them. But then, Bainimarama HAD just overthrown Fiji's democratic government and imposed dictatorship. The poor "victim" Gates HAD connived in the coup and the destruction of Fiji's independent judiciary. These are not small things.

Bainimarama has the reputation of pocketing all concessions without offering any in return. Australia has continually given generously to Fiji's economic development and disaster relief. Julie Bishop has been (overly) effusive in her praise of Suva, but what has Suva given her in return? The elections, you might say, as though the elections were for Canberra's sake, not our own? Anything else?

The article posted at 6:56 PM is obviously a crude attempt by the regime to pass a message to the Australians. No doubt Canberra's diplomats ARE conflicted about rapprochement with a regime as sullied as Bainimarama's. I'm not just talking about its human rights record but its record towards the diplomats personally. After all, Bainimarama did send a number of Aussie diplomats packing on the flimsiest of pretexts. Also, past Australian high commissioners were assaulted at the sea wall and did receive death threats traced to a phone just outside QEB Barracks.

But the snubs in this case are Suva's, not Canberra's or the High Commission's. The HC did invite Bainimarama, Khaiyum and Gates, but they chose not to attend. No doubt they took their cue from Khaiyum, who is the least world-traveled amongst them. But Bainimarama is thin-skinned and petty-minded, and Gates is like a petulant old woman, so Khaiyum's poisonous advice appealed to both.

Whether the Aussies addressed Mr. Gates as Chief Justice Gates, Mr. Gates, or Ms. Gates, I don't know. But only the regime or the HC could provide that sort of detail, which underscores this article as something contrived by the regime using its control of the media.

The regime's attempt to peg its decision not to attend the Australia Day occasion on the HC's alleged snubbing of Chris Pryde, a non-Australian, and Sharon Smith-Johns, no longer an officeholder, is quite a reach. It smacks of desperation and cowardice, frankly.

Bainimarama has shown again and again his personal timidity in dealing with social situations in which he would be expected to man up or give an accounting for himself. He avoids them completely or sends Khaiyum or Kubuabola in his stead. Despite Canberra's outreach to the regime, he remains true to form.

No, the most fundamental reason why Bainimarama didn't attend the Australia Day celebration is because Bainimarama is a wimp.

Vili Rakoro has already had his anus prodded by army wannabes during their rifle handling exercise. Oh they're lining up for this scheme in NZ, I wonder if Vili's waiting for a similar scheme with China or India.

The regime and its mouthpiece, Vili, still won't reveal who in Suva's high command ratified the UN commander's order for the RFMF to surrender in the Golan Heights. Why the secrecy if the order was the right thing to do and even, somehow, a source of national pride?

Contrary to Vili's posting at 6:58 PM, a surrender order isn't even in the Terms of Reference agreed between the UN and its donors to peacekeeping operations, so it was never agreed from the outset that the UN commander had that sort of discretion.

Tikoitoga has already revealed that the UN coordinated the surrender with Suva. So, was it Tikoitoga or Bainimarama who made the final decision to surrender our troops?

Manila revealed the same sort of coordinating process, only, in its case, the Philippine high command refused to allow its troops to surrender.

By the way, although Vili earlier suggested that the RFMF was greatly outnumbered in the Golan Heights, he gave no basis for such an assertion. Moreover, if the RFMF was so outnumbered, then the Filipino forces were even harder pressed, because they would have been dealing with at least as many hostiles, and in their case, those hostiles would have been strengthened by the weaponry surrendered by the RFMF.

It's only in an Alice-in-Wonderland kind of environment like Suva, where logic is turned on its head, that the honourable thing is to surrender one's men, weapons, and command to terrorists without firing a shot, whilst holding your position, inflicting losses on the enemy, and then exfiltrating in orderly fashion with all arms and personnel intact is somehow dishonourable.

Vili's wannabe soldiers are held in high regard by other countries. Yes Vili, that's because your Fiji army has a unique way of training how to use a rifle, line up a few civilians, strip them naked, asses up and shove the rifles up their assholes!!!!!

How is it that when some opposition members choose not to attend a speech by a visiting Indian dignitary they are labelled "impolite and iimmature", but when the leaders of the regime choose to snub the Australians it's only "underscoring continuing concerns"?

The prime minister says that he's fighting to bring rugby broadcasts to all Fijians, but it's precisely because of his government's foolish actions that we're now missing the games altogether. It's obvious that ASK is simply trying to steal for his brother's FBC a portion of Fiji TV's exclusive feed from World Rugby.

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools Aiyaz Diktator and Frank Puppet, that don't have brains enough to be honest.

The reason con artists like the two get away with what they get away with is, their victims(FF supporters) are ashamed of their own blindness and their own gullibility, and they tend to just quietly pretend and believe its all okay.

To many Aboriginal Australians there is little to celebrate and it is a commemoration of a deep loss. Loss of their sovereign rights to their land, loss of family, loss of the right to practice their culture.

“Australia Day is 26 January, a date whose only significance is to mark the coming to Australia of the white people in 1788. It’s not a date that is particularly pleasing for Aborigines,” says Aboriginal activist Michael Mansell [8]. “The British were armed to the teeth and from the moment they stepped foot on our country, the slaughter and dispossession of Aborigines began.”

Aboriginal people call it ‘Invasion Day’, ‘Day of Mourning’, ‘Survival Day’ or, since 2006, ‘Aboriginal Sovereignty Day’. The latter name reflects that all Aboriginal nations are sovereign and should be united in the continuous fight for their rights.

Mansell believes that Australia celebrates “the coming of one race at the expense of another” [6].

“Australia is the only country that relies on the arrival of Europeans on its shores as being so significant it should herald the official national day,” he says [8]. “The USA does not choose the arrival of Christopher Columbus as the date for its national day. Like many other countries its national day marks independence.”

Bainimarama doesn't wanna attend an event that represents the murder of millions of Aborigines. So Australia gives aid money and expects us to respect them because of that. They can go fuck themselves.

The UN do have overall command in operation. That includes every scenario including contacts and kidnapping. The Philippines soldiers fought back because they were scared. They don't have the mental fortitude. We all know what us Fijian men are like, we don't stand back from a good fight. The Fijian soldiers shown a strenous effort to follow orders, remain calm and be professional. The easier option would be disobey order and fight. If they were ordered to fight I have no doubt they would have. And also I suspect that if they felt they were in immediate danger they would have as well.

We can all argue the what it's. But the soldiers on the ground were in a better position then any of us to decide if their best chances were to fight or not. They assessed and probably advised UN command that the situation means loss of lives and injuries if they fight therefore they were ordered not because an alternative was explored. Which it was and now they're alive.

All of you here calling our boys pussies well you're safe in your anonymous name behind your keyboard. We all know you swear at a Fijian men soldier or not you're asking for a fight. And some of you are even showing more love for Australian and New Zealand soldiers then our own and you're here trying to tell us who should lead our country, bunch of unpatriotic imbeciles. You and your adopted Australian countrymen can all go far yourselves.

"To many Aboriginal Australians there is little to celebrate and it is a commemoration of a deep loss. Loss of their sovereign rights to their land, loss of family, loss of the right to practice their culture."

You are definitely a friggin useless brainless monkey morphing dumb parrot at the same time.

What do you think has happened to the real Itaukei of Fiji? They have been unceremoniously stripped off every bit of their sovereign right & the rest that followed. Frank the Traitor with the backing of his cowardly military minions permitted that and all Aiyaz had to do was rubber-stamp his authority and steal Frank's filthy military boots to stomp all over the Itaukei of Fiji.

The Itaukei have been conned just like the Abos.

Hypocrisy is all that's coming out of your parrot mouth at present.

Waste of time Vili Rakoro! Go back and learn to have your head tuned to the correct frequency before you utter any nonsensical opinion on this site. And when it comes to defending your military lot, please, just dont waste your time.

" We all know what us Fijian men are like, we don't stand back from a good fight. "

VILI....really???

From what I know growing up is that the majority of you tend to do one thing against a single foe and that is to BUTURAKI because you dont have the balls to take on a ONE ON ONE.

And this is evident that COWARDICE and LACK OF MENTAL FORTITUDE is deeply embedded into your whole make up. Sorry, but true and you know that. Look at how a bunch of you can terrorise innocent peace-loving Indian families and leave them so devastated.

We have the cowardly surrender of the soldiers at Golan Heights to reflect on each time LIES are spread to WHITEWASH the masses.

Why is it that you love displaying the role of a fool on this site huh?

Hahaha. Vili has outdone himself this time. First we're told that Banimarama boycotted the Australia Day event in order to make the world safe for Pryde and Smith-Johns. Now, according to Vili, the real reason was to advance a larger principle: to protest Australian treatment of the Aboriginals.

Only two problems with that story line. The first is the way the regime has cozied up to Indonesia despite its mistreatment of the indigenous people in West Papua. The other is its own record of obliterating indigenous rights and institutions here in Fiji.

Vili, as the whole world knows full well, and even you know, too, Fiji does not relinquish command of its troops, even when they're on UN deployments. For example, the Government of Fiji has the sovereign right to recall them at any time, with or without the UN's permission. Also, the overall UN commander has wide discretion, but he is not allowed to surrender troops without coordinating first with their command authority.

Why try to deny it, when Tikoitoga has already alluded to such coordination? Manila also alluded to it in explaining its decision not to surrender its troops. In fact, surrender wasn't even in the Terms of Reference agreed to by Suva or Manila with UN Headquarters in New York.

But it's fun watching you squirm. Again you struggle to justify Suva's decision, maximise the UN commander's role, and minimise the RFMF's role in the surrender. Why do you feel the need to do that? Why all the verbal gymnastics, if you're convinced Suva's decision was so correct, professional, and courageous, as you've repeatedly argued? Don't you believe your own argument? Why, then, your reluctance to name who it was in Suva's command who ratified the UN commander's decision? If it was such a great decision, why your reluctance to share with us who deserves the credit for making the call?

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 30— A Fijian soldier in the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon was killed during a gunbattle with members of Maj. Saad Haddad's Israeli-backed militia, a United Nations spokesman said today.

The United Nations spokesman, Timur Goksel, said the incident began when Ali Sweidan, a member of Major Haddad's militia from Tyre, refused to allow his car to be searched on Sunday at a Fijian checkpoint.

Israeli soldiers in two jeeps came to Mr. Sweidan's aid, the United Nations spokesman said.

The Fijian battalion's duty officer, after a visit to the checkpoint to investigate, was pinned down by sniper fire from a house owned by Mr. Sweidan outside the village of Kneise, three miles southeast of Tyre, Mr. Goksel said. He said that the Fijian officer then called for reinforcements, and a gunbattle erupted with Mr. Sweidan and seven other armed men in the house.

In the gunbattle, Pvt. Taniela Taukei Moivalu, 23-years-old, was fatally wounded in the head, Mr. Goksel said. Several hours later six carloads of Israeli troops arrived and surrounded the house.

The Israeli Army, according to the United Nations spokesman, informed the Fijian battalion headquarters that Mr. Sweidan and two of his men were taken to Tyre during the night, but that seven Israeli soldiers remained on guard at the house and about 30 Fijian soldiers continued to surround it. ----

By Ritesh Kumar 6:09 pm GMT+12, 14/08/2008, Fiji The United States Government has awarded five Fijian civilian security contractors who were killed in Iraq with the Defence of Freedom Medals in Suva today, reports Fiji Live.

US Embassy Chargé d'Affairs, Jeffrey Robertson acknowledged the presence of the families of Penaia Vakaotia; Viliame Rovutugaga; Alivereti Cereilagi; Josaia Seniasi and Vilisoni Gauna at a solemn ceremony this morning.

The five were contracted by the America-based security company Armor Group in Iraq to transport and protect Iraqi currency in the war-torn nation. They all died in separate incidents in Iraq while being employed by the company.

US Defence Attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Reardon reminded the families of the valour of the five men who bravely laid down their lives as part of an international effort to fight terrorism and preserve freedom.

The Defence of Freedom Medal is the civilian equivalent of the military's Purple Heart, a medal given for serious injury or death suffered in times of war.

The Purple Heart and Defence of Freedom medals are special because they are entitled not recommended.

The Defence of Freedom Medal was first created to honour civilians/employees of Department of Defence injured or killed during the September 11th Terrorist attacks. The medal symbolises the extraordinary fidelity and essential service of individuals.

Rovutugaga's wife, Amelia, from Nakavu, Namosi, said life without a husband was very difficult since he was killed in a roadside bomb in Baghdad more than two years ago.

"It's a very difficult situation when you don't have someone to support you and your children, especially when you don't have a husband or a father."

She said their only child Osea Rovuturaga, 11, is too young to understand the burden that has been left by their father.

"I'm working at the moment but life will never be the same again without our father," Ms Amelia said.

Fiji's representative of Armor Group, Hendry Ma'afu, said that families who lost their loved ones in Iraq have been compensated.

He said each and every employee of the group was insured. Also present at the ceremony was the Director of Armor Group Jonathan Ryan.

SUVA, Fiji— The small but tough Fijian Army, blooded in Lebanon and now preparing for new peacekeeping duties in Sinai, has brought to the Middle East a style of fighting new to that arid area half a world away from the lush South Pacific islands.

For example, said the army commander, Brig. Ian Thorne of New Zealand, instead of firing their rifles the Fijians would rather swing them like the war clubs of their ancestors.

Similarly, he said, they like to hurl a hand grenade at an enemy without first pulling the firing pin, thus making it a steel equivalent of the traditional throwing club with which earlier Fijian warriors stunned an opponent before closing in with the larger bludgeon for the kill.

The Government of Fiji, which has had 600 soldiers in Lebanon since 1978 as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force, has agreed to send a 500-member infantry battalion to Sinai. It is the only country besides the United States that has publicly agreed to participate in the Sinai peacekeeping force, although one unnamed Latin American country has said privately that it would contribute to the force, according to American officials. Early Leader Served With British

Fijian experience in modern warfare began with a political leader named Lala Sukuna, later knighted by the British King for service to the Empire. Sir Lala tried to enlist in the British Army at the outset of World War I, was rejected, joined the French Foreign Legion, was discharged after being seriously wounded, applied to the British Army again and was accepted.

At about the same time, Brigadier Thorne said in an interview, large numbers of Fijians joined New Zealand's Army posing as Maoris, members of the indigenous Polynesian stock of that country, and fought against the Germans. To bolster the disguise, he said, many of the Fijian volunteers adopted British surnames common among Maoris of mixed race, like Smith and Brown, that survive in prominent Fijian families today.

The Fijians gained renown as jungle fighters against the Japanese in World War II, serving under American command in the Solomon Islands campaign, and against Communist guerrilla insurgents in Malaya, now part of Malaysia, in the 1950's.

Sir Penaia Ganilau, who commanded the Fijian troops in Malaya and is now Deputy Prime Minister of independent Fiji, recalled in an interview that the islanders had killed more than 10 guerrillas for every Fijian lost in that action. Unfamiliar Cultural Traits

Palestinian intruders into the area guarded by the Fijian peacekeeping units in southern Lebanon around Tyre have confronted the Pacific island soldiers with cultural traits as strange to them as theirs are to the Arabs, said Brigadier Thorne, a retired New Zealand Army officer who took command of the Fijian Army three years ago on contract.

''An Arab stopped at a checkpoint may become upset, strike the Fijian soldier and be carried away with a fractured jaw,'' Brigadier Thorne said. ''Four or five days later, there's a retaliatory attack on the Fijian post. This puzzles the Fijians, who are accustomed to settling differences on the spot.''

Thirteen members of the Fijian force have lost their lives in the three years of duty in Lebanon. Brigadier Thorne believes that the Fijians, who have been under orders to fire back when attacked, have inflicted many more casualties upon those who attacked them, but he said that ''it is impossible to keep score.''

Black Watch soldier with tank on patrol in Basra Fijians are serving the British Army in countries around the world

Fijian soldiers have a reputation of physical strength and spirit and have been quietly serving in the British Army for several generations. Long colonial links have seen the South Pacific islanders serve alongside British troops for more than a century.

Some observers say their physical robustness and boundless bravery echoes the famous Gurkhas.

But Fijian troops do not enjoy the high profile of their Nepalese counterparts.

While other observers describe them simply as good, reliable infantry soldiers.

Fijian soldiers helped combat the Japanese in World War Two, where they gained a reputation as fierce jungle fighters.

They later served in Malaya, Borneo and Oman as well as Iraq.

In 2002, the British High Commissioner in Fiji, Charles Mochan, said the islanders made "exemplary soldiers".

Military tradition

A spokesman for the Fijian Embassy in London said more than 2,000 are now serving with British regiments around the world as a result of recruiting since 1998.

The British Army holds regular recruitment drives on the islands and the South China Morning Post said more than 10,000 hopefuls have applied since 2000.

Major Charles Heyman, senior defence analyst for Jane's Consultancy Group, said: "There is a long military tradition in Fiji and many serve today because their fathers and grandfathers did.

The truth is they are just normal guys, just like our guys. They make very, very good infantry soldiers

Major Charles Heyman

"The Fijians have been an essential part of the British empire and what they are doing, basically, is filling the vacant slots in the British Army because we cannot recruit enough from the UK itself.

"This happened very successfully in the 1960s and 70s and is working very well again today.

"The truth is they are just normal guys, just like our guys. They make very, very good infantry soldiers."

Fiji is one of the smallest Commonwealth countries and gained independence in 1970 after almost a century under British rule.

It has a population of over 880,000 and is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies.

A tourist on a beach near Suva The island paradise and Britain share a long military history

But high unemployment as well as historical ties are often given as reasons for the high interest among young islanders in joining the British military.

They are also paid far more than they would in their own armed forces and money sent home is important to their families, especially in the remote villages and outlying islands.

'An honour'

The Fijian embassy spokesman said there was a long tradition in serving with the British Army which was seen as "an honour".

"You have to understand that Fijians have a strong admiration for the British Royal Family and there is a huge sense of pride in serving the Crown."

The embassy spokesman added the first recruitment drive was in 1961, and many at the time went into Scottish regiments.

Two senior officers from the Republic of Fiji Military officers are undertaking reconnaissance work in southern Lebanon. Land Force Commander Colonel Sitiveni Qiliho says they will prepare a report that will be submitted to Cabinet to approve the re-deployment of soldiers to UNIFIL in Lebanon. Colonel Qiliho says close to one hundred and forty officers from the RFMF are expected to be re-deployed to Lebanon by next month. He says the decision was made by the United Nations however, a report has to be submitted to the government for endorsement before the redeployment to UNIFIL proceeds. Lieutenant Colonel Vosaicake and Director Peace Keeping Operations Commander Humphrey Tawake have arrived in Beirut and are currently in South Lebanon. For the reconnaissance works in regards to the re-deployment of the Fijian company from UNDOF in the Golan Heights to UNIFIL in Lebanon. Colonel Qiliho says the two officers have met with Major Tevita Daurewa who has come across from UNDOF in the Golan Heights. They’ve commenced their work there. To do the reconnaissance with where we are going to be deployed or where that company of Fijians are going to be deployed in all aspects of their deployment there from Commander in control, structures, administration and logistics of our troops that will move from the Golan heights into UNIFIL. The survey is expected to be carried out within a fortnight. -

A suicide car bomber killed three Fijian soldiers from the U.N. peacekeeping force and four civilians at a U.N. roadblock in southern Lebanon. The driver, who also died, was stopped six miles south of Tyre, for a routine check. Two other Fijian soldiers, two other civilians and a member of an Israeli-backed militia were wounded. A U.N. spokesman said he did not know whether the bomber intended to kill U.N. troops or members of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia, who manned a nearby roadblock. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and the South Lebanon Army militia have frequently been attacked by Muslim guerrillas in south Lebanon.

BEIRUT, LEBANON BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) A Fijian soldier of the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon was wounded in a shootout Monday with Shiite Moslem militiamen, U.N. sources said.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the peacekeeper was shot in the chest during a 20-minute firefight with six gunmen of the Syrian- backed Amal militia in Ein Baal, six miles southeast of the southern port city of Tyre.

The sources said the shooting broke out when soldiers manning a Fijian checkpoint in Ein Baal tried to prevent the militiamen from driving their green Volvo station wagon into U.N.-policed territory with their arms.

''When the Fijian checkpoint told them they cannot cross, they headed for a dirt road. A Fijian soldier fired a warning shot in the air,'' one source said. ''The armed elements apparently thought they were under fire, so they shot back and a firefight ensued in which one armed element also was slightly wounded.''

The wounded Fijian was flown by helicopter to the border town of Naqoura for treatement at a field hospital of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, the sources said.

They said the commands of UNIFIL and Amal launched urgent contacts to avert repercussions.

More than 150 UNIFIL soldiers have been killed and 250 wounded since the deployment of the 5,800-strong force in south Lebanon in 1978.

The force is made up of troops from France, Ireland, Sweden, Fiji, Norway, Finland, Nepal, Ghana and Senegal.

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West CenterWith Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

FIJIAN SURVIVOR RECOUNTS BLOODY IRAQ AMBUSH

By Pedro Rounds

SUVA, Fiji (The FijiSUN, Dec. 23) – A Fijian soldier recently wounded in Iraq yesterday recounted the bloody shootout that left at least one Iraqi dead and two Fijians injured.

Revealing his story at his village in Drekena, Rewa, Marika Natoga said they were traveling in a company vehicle transporting currency when heavily armed Iraqis ambushed them.

"It was on a Monday at about 3.30 p.m. when we were leaving the city of Babylon to head back to Baghdad when all of a sudden we were hit from the back of the vehicle by the assailants," he said.

Natoga said he was traveling with two other Fijians and one European when they were hit.

Mr Natoga said when the rear glass shattered, they knew they were being fired on from behind from the assailants’ car, which was chasing them.

"The Iraqis were using two machine guns when they stopped in front of us and started spraying bullets on the left hand side of our vehicle where the European, who was the driver, was sitting," he said.

Mr Natoga said the Iraqis did not give them a chance to escape or to retaliate, but kept on shooting.

"The only fortunate thing was, I managed to escape with another companion because another Fijian guy and the European who was sitting in the front seat said they could not escape because they were shot and could not move."

Natoga did not know that he was also shot, in the stomach and thighs.

"I managed to escape through the left hand side of the vehicle while coming on the other side to help my fallen comrades," he said. "When I opened the door, they just fell to the road like dead carcasses because of the seriousness of their injuries."

He said he managed to persuade another Fijian soldier to attack the assailants because they had no choice.

"We began a gun battle that lasted for more than an hour," he said. "At one point the battle boiled over onto the streets of Babylon even though it was packed with civilians."

He said they were also fortunate when Iraqi civilians helped them by joining in the fight.

"There were two groups of Iraqi civilians, one that helped us and the other that wanted to loot our vehicle," he said.

He also said that they were lucky when American soldiers joined in the gun battle.

He said later they heard from the Americans that one Iraqi civilian was shot dead, two wounded and five captured.

Meanwhile, he said he had not made up his mind yet if he would return to Iraq.

His colleague is still recovering at the Suva Private Hospital, while the fate of the European is unknown.

On November 30, 2003, Iraqi insurgents wearing uniforms of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen attacked two separate convoys using mortars, grenades and automatic weapons. The convoys were escorted by tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles from elements of the 4th Infantry Division - a tank company from 1st Battalion, 66th Armor reinforced with two squads of military police and four squads of infantry. The convoys were carrying new Iraqi currency for deposit at Samarra banks as part of the dinar exchange program.

One convoy was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire during the currency exchange at Samarra Bank in the southeastern part of the city. While US forces returned fire, Fijian contractors completed the exchange.

More than 100 insurgents were believed to have taken part in the near-simultaneous ambushes attacks at around 1pm.

By the end of the confrontation, US forces claimed to have killed 54 attackers and captured eight others. Five U.S. soldiers and one American civilian were also wounded during the attack. This represented the largest number of Iraqi deaths in a single day since President Bush announced the end of major combat operations.

Conflicting claims about the number of dead later emerged with local hospital officials claiming that at least eight Iraqis had been killed during the clash, with more than 60 additional civilians being treated for wounds.

U.S. Central Command officials, however, stand by the claim that 54 attackers were killed in the Nov. 30 ambush.

A highly decorated former SAS soldier is recovering after being wounded in a gun battle as he fought his way out of an ambush in Iraq.

The man is a Fijian known as Tak, and was one of two former SAS men involved in the shoot-out in the Safwan area near Basra.

More than 100 former SAS men are working in Iraq as security consultants and bodyguards earning between £375 and £500 a day.

Tak, who joined the SAS more than 30 years ago and took part in the ending of the Iranian embassy siege, is believed to have killed at least one of his attackers and wounded two more before being shot in the thigh.

The gun battle began as Tak and the other ex-soldier, named only as Darren, were driving two vehicles along a road. Darren overtook a Chevrolet JMC with four armed Iraqis on board. As Tak tried to follow his comrade the Iraqis swerved to stop him passing.

He tried to overtake three times then swerved off the road and drove through the rough desert. The Iraqis then opened fire in front of his vehicle which had become bogged down in the sand.

As the Iraqis, carrying AK47 assault rifles, jumped from their vehicle and approached the front of Tak's stranded vehicle he put his hands in the air to lure them in closer . . . then opened fire.

A friend said: "He just fired straight through the windscreen which caught them totally unawares and two of them went down straight away. He then dived out of the vehicle and began clubbing the one on the left with his weapon which either must have jammed or run out of ammo and he didn't have time to change the magazine.

"As he was battering the Iraqi he managed to get a shot off hitting Tak in the thigh."

As Tak and the Iraqi fought Darren gave his comrade covering fire, occupying the other two Iraqis while Tak limped to his vehicle and both drove to the British Military Hospital in Basra.

Last night Tak was in a private hospital in the Midlands for treatment to his wounds. Darren was understood to have received a slight wound to the hand in the battle.

Former SAS soldiers have killed and wounded more than 200 Iraqis in gun battles with fedayeen, al-Qa'eda sympathisers and fanatics still loyal to Saddam Hussein.

Last month two former soldiers from the regiment are said to have killed a tribal warlord and escaped after he took them prisoner and subjected them to a mock execution.

Tak was among 200 Fijians recruited to the British army in the 1960s and quickly became one of seven to join the SAS. One of his first actions was against communist rebels in Aden.

In July 1972, during the so-called secret war in Oman, Tak was one of nine SAS soldiers who held off about 400 terrorists in a six-hour battle so fierce their gun barrels became red-hot.

FOUR Fiji guards who died fighting off an ambush in Iraq and seven who survived have been hailed as heroes by United States Army personnel.

There were no American soldiers with the convoy as reported earlier.

Security was provided by the 11 Fijian guards commanded by Sakaraia Banicau.

Mr Banicau was the elder brother of one of the deceased - Kelemedi Dreuvakabalawa.

During the ambush, Mr Rokovau said the Fijian guards fought and exchanged gunfire with the insurgents.

He said the Fijians killed a few before capturing the enemy's support weapon.

Mr Rokovau said despite the ambush, the Fijian guards arrived at Kirkuk Regional Airforce Base with the eight trucks of heavy machinery worth $28million, the enemy's support weapon, the bodies of their dead comrades, the injured and all those who escaped to safety.

Jonetani Kaukimoce, the local agent for US-based security company, Control Risks Group, said the situation the Fijian guards encountered during the ambush was not new.

With Fiji's involvement in peacekeeping duties, Mr Kaukimoce said Fijian guards had a high level of training and skills from the Fiji military and from their security company to handle the situation in war-torn Iraq.

The bodies of the four men who died during the ambush will arrive at Nadi Airport this evening.

"Naturally, we are saddened to hear of their death and are sending our condolences to their families."

The four Fijian security guards who died fighting off an ambush in Iraq last week and the seven who survived have been hailed as heroes by the United States military.

The Fiji Times reports that American soldiers in Kirkuk have recommended that the Fijians be awarded medals for gallantry.

The newspaper quotes a Fijian security guard based at Kirkuk, Lote Rokovau, as saying the 11 former Fijian soldiers were escorting a convoy of eight trucks loaded with oil machinery from Tirkit to Kirkuk when they were ambushed by insurgents.

Mr Rokovau says during the ambush the Fijian guards exchanged gunfire with the insurgents and killed some of them before capturing their support weapon.

Mr Rokovau says despite the gun battle, the Fijians managed to arrive at the Kirkuk Regional Air Force Base with the eight trucks of machinery, captured weapons and the bodies of their dead and injured.

Mr Rokovau says American soldiers have hailed the bravery of the Fijian guards and recommended that they be awarded medals.

The bodies of the four guards killed are expected to arrive in Fiji tonight

The United Nations compound in Irbil, Iraq is an austere environment of asphalt, cement and blast walls, peppered with nondescript buildings where the organization’s employees live and work. But five days a week, at dawn and dusk, the drab landscape is briefly transformed by a Christian choir.

It's a choir of Fijian soldiers who recently moved to the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region from Baghdad, as part of the UN's peacekeeping force in Iraq.

“Right back from childhood … we do this,” says Major Mikael Racumu, who commands the 68 Fijian peacekeepers. In Fiji, village life has communal activities, including singing, he says, “both in religious activities and traditional activities. So singing is traditional and part of our culture. To us, it’s just natural. If anyone starts singing, every other [person] around comes in harmonizing.”

A battatlion from the Fijian army has been stationed in Iraq since 2004, charged with protecting UN personnel and facilities there. Now the threat from Islamist militants has put them on the front line of a regional conflict.

Racumu says singing together helps the peacekeepers meet those challenges.

"Singing for us is a relieving thing spiritually," he says, "and it enhances us physically, as well. Spiritual and physical are correlated. Everywhere we go, this is a part of what we do — morning and evening. It keeps us, it binds us together. There’s a bond we develop doing these things."

Naomi Tora is one of nine women who serve as female searchers for the unit — a position similar to a security guard. She is very aware of the risks that her job carries — even in their peacekeeping capacity, five of her colleagues have been killed in the line of duty while in Iraq. Fijian troops were also among the UN peacekeepers recently captured by Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.

Tora says the Fiji Army has been chosen to come and work for the UN. "Every day, when we get a briefing from our in-charges, they always tell us the weapons that we have ... don’t match whatever forces are coming from outside. So we believe that there is a great force that looks after us all, and that is why we always try to better how we serve Him.”

Music, she says, is one way to do that.

“The better we sing — as we sing to praise Him — He inhabits the place of his people," Tora says. "That is why we believe that worship singing takes us closer to the God we are serving, who we believe is looking after us as we are looking after this place.”

The situation in the Middle East:Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (S/14537)

S/PV.2289

2289th MEETING

Held in New York on Friday, 19 June 1981, at 3.30 p.m.

President: Mr. Porfirio MUNOZ LEDO (Mexico).

Present: The representatives of the following States: China, France, German Democratic Republic, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Niger, Panama, Philippines, Spain, Tunisia, Uganda, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.

The PRESIDENT (interpretation from Spanish): I call on the Secretary-General.

The SECRETARY-GENERAL: I have taken note of the resolution just adopted by the Council extending the mandate of UNIFIL-for a further period of six months, until 19 December 1981.

Before commenting any further on this, I regret having to inform the members of the Council of a grave development which occurred this morning.

At 1000 hours local time today, a member of the armed elements who tried to infiltrate into the UNIFIL area of operation was stopped at a Fijian position 2 kilometers east of Qana, the headquarters of the battalion. He returned shortly after with reinforce-ments. There was an exchange of fire, initiated by the armed elements, in the course of which three Fijian soldiers were taken away by the armed elements to a position near the village of Deir Amis, some 4 kilometers south-east of Qana. Two Fijian soldiers were shot and killed. The third Fijian soldier has been released.

In a subsequent development, the armed elements seized three more Fijian soldiers from another UNIFIL position near the Tyre pocket. They have just been released after having been forcibly detained.

I am deeply concerned at this tragedy which has today cost the lives of two more Fijian soldiers. I have immediately taken measures and made contacts with a view to investigating and regulating this situation. General Callaghan has cut short his visit to United Nations Headquarters and is returning forthwith to the UNIFIL area. I have conveyed my deepest condo-lences to the Prime Minister of Fiji and to the bereaved families.

Irish soldier kidnapped and killed in retaliation for deaths of Palestinian militia in a shoot out with Fijian soldiers at Deir Amis Southern Lebanon

UK news

The Observer

20-year hunt for kidnapped Irish soldier almost over

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor

Sunday 6 May 2001 02.41 BST

A breakthrough has finally been achieved in a 20-year investigation into the disappearance of an Irish soldier in Lebanon. Kevin Joyce has been 'missing presumed dead' since April 1981 - the United Nations' only missing-in-action 'blue beret'.

The Inisheer-born private was kidnapped from his UN observation post in south Lebanon by a Palestinian faction a year before the Israelis invaded the region.

Until now, those behind the abduction and suspected murder of the soldier, who was 19 at the time, have refused to admit responsibility.

However, a spokesman for the Irish Defence Forces has confirmed that talks are under way aimed at finding Joyce's remains.

The Irish battalion of Unifil has only seven months left to find the missing soldier's remains - the unit finally pulls out of Lebanon in November.

'Negotiations are still going on,' he said. 'There has been contact with a number of groups. The Irish battalion are dealing with this.'

The battalion is working with the Maronite Bishop of Tyre and the Lebanese Minister for Missing and Displaced Persons, Senator Mirwan Hamadi.

It is understood that Palestinians from refugee camps in south Lebanon have agreed to discuss the whereabouts of Joyce's remains - the first time anyone has admitted knowledge about the missing soldier.

John Laffery, president of the army's union, PDFORRA, travelled to south Lebanon with Joyce's family last week to oversee the investigation into his disappearance.

'This is a festering sore for the Defence Forces,' he said. 'Every soldier that has served in Lebanon over the past 21 years owes to Kevin Joyce that we do everything to find him. Talks are under way and we hope his remains can be found before the Irish battalion pulls out in November.

'All the Joyce family want is to take Kevin's remains back to Ireland so he can be given a Christian burial on Inisheer.'

Joyce's comrade, Hugh Doherty, was shot dead during the raid on their post near the village of Dyar Ntar on 27 April 1981. Pte Doherty, who had just turned 20, was shot three times in the back. Joyce meanwhile, according to UN intelligence reports, was taken to a Palestinian refugee camp in Tyre.

He was shot dead a few weeks later following a gun battle between Palestinians and UN soldiers in south Lebanon.

The shoot-out at Deir Amis between the Palestinians and Fijian blue berets sealed Joyce's fate. The young Irish solder was killed in retaliation for the deaths of several Palestinian militiamen.

With UNIFIL—the new UNIFIL—very much in the news following the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hizballah, JPS decided to interview the man most closely associated with the “old UNIFIL.” Timur Göksel, who had been with the UN information office in Ankara, Turkey, joined UNIFIL as its press officer and spokesman about six months after its creation and remained with the organization for the next twenty-four years—years that saw not only Israel’s invasion and two major incursions, but also the height of PLO power and its obliteration, the birth and development of the local resistance after 1982, the waning of the powerful Amal movement and the rise of Hizballah. Because of Göksel’s long association with the interim force (where individual tours of duty rarely exceeded a few years), his familiarity with every village and hamlet south of the Litani, and his personal acquaintance with all the leading players, he has frequently been referred to as “Mr. UNIFIL” or “Mr. South Lebanon.”

The interview took place at the end of November 2006 in one of Göksel’s favorite Beirut hangouts, the Café de Prague, formerly the Rose and Crown bar where foreign journalists congregated during the early years of Lebanon’s civil war.

Göksel: Let me give you an example. There was a serious case in a place called Wadi Jilu, east of Tyre. The Fijians, who are good soldiers and take their mission seriously, were in charge of that area, which was on one of the main access routes to the Iron Triangle, which meant that there were always problems with the Palestinians.

The Fijians see these guys placing heavy weapons, recoilless rifles, in the hills overlooking their area, and get nervous. They deploy their troops, the Palestinians bring in more fighters, and a serious confrontation develops.

The UNIFIL force commander asked me to see if I could do anything. I said "Hey, I'm just the press officer," but he said I was the only one who could talk to the Palestinians without starting a war. So I went to Wadi Jilu, with the new deputy force commander, a general fresh from Europe, and some American officers from the UN Observer Group in Lebanon. These Americans were good military men, top notch professionals mostly—some had been combat officers in Vietnam and some even knew Arabic. We went there as a team.

The Fijians had tried to call the PLO liaison officer, but he was unavailable—they all become unavailable in these situations. The Palestinians involved turned out to be the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine], George Habash's PLFP. They had a very tough commander there, Major Nur. He was a legendary fighter. Even the Israelis respected him. I don't know what became of him. Anyway, we had a kind of High Noon scene from an American Western in the middle of that three-road junction: I'm in the middle of the road, my guys behind me, and the Palestinians are on the other side, armed to the teeth and pretty ferocious looking, five-day beards and all—I think they hand pick these guys or keep them in reserve for these encounters, for intimidation.

I'm waiting for Major Nur to come out so we can talk, and I tell my general, who is very nervous—this is his first day out—"Don't interfere. This is my show." Meanwhile I tell my Americans to get a fix on where the weapons were, so I can use the information to impress Major Nur at the right moment.

He comes out, very angry. So I act angry also. We're both talking tough because that's the way you do it, you don't back down at the outset. Things seem to escalate and my European general is nudging me, "Please, please, be polite!" I ignore him. The intimidation works on foreigners and newcomers, but I know the style: I'm a Turk, this is my part of the world, too. Nur knows and I know that we are not going harm each other, but we have to create this public show, right? I know that he can't lose face with his men so I will give him that. He's saying this is a Palestinian area and Lebanon has given them the right to operate freely there to recover their lost country, and so on. I escalate: "Major Nur, you are an experienced fighter, so obviously you know how to read maps." "Of course," he says. I say, "Habibi, this is Lebanon. Palestine is that way. You have no right to put your guns here." I thought our new deputy commander was going to faint, but the Americans knew the game. Meanwhile they had whispered to me where the weapons were and I said to Nur: "You have one recoilless rifle there and one machine gun there and another there, etc." He asks how I know and I reply, "Look, I am a simple Turk, but I did my military service and I can see those things. Why don't you just remove them?" For the face saving, I agreed to let them be removed the next morning. The Fijians were worried, but I said, in front of Nur and his men, "Relax. If Major Nur says he's going to get them out tomorrow morning, he will. He's a man of his word.” Our European general was quite shaken by the encounter and I told him, "Look, this is not Europe. We have a different lifestyle here, a different way at looking at problems. I'm not against your style, but this is the reality here. If you try to impose your ways, it won't work.”

That's why peacekeeping with all the nice civilized meetings doesn't always work. Outsiders just don’t get that this region has been here for thousands of years and has its own time-honored ways and you can't just impose your ways and expect it to work. Anyway, I ended up with a commendation for my conflict management at Wadi Jilu and possibly saving UN lives.

And some in here have the stupidity to label Fijian soldiers as lower then the Australian and New Zealand soldiers. Again before you lot open your coconut wireless mouth try doing research to back up your big useless mouth.

One even tried to equate the slaughter of millions of Aborigines to us I Taukei's now. Seriously where do you guys get this idea. Us I Taukei's have never been happier because these government has proven to be for the people. Compared to the previous governments especially corrupt Qarase who actually got convicted.

Bunch of useless racists. Get it in your head, majority of Fijian especially I taukei's rejected your idea of governance because we have suffered enough. You posts idiotic comments in here to make you feel better because in the real world here in Fiji you're a laughing stock. You continue to show how full of hatred you are, how racist you are, how unpatriotic you are. Simply you all are IRRELEVANT.

Vili, what do you call the then commander of the army beating up a pregnant woman while some soldiers watched? A fucking PUSSY, yes Vili, Voreqe Bainimarama, the PM of Fiji is a fucking pussy. Because he's a pussy, the soldiers he commanded are pussies. They surrendered when confronted at the Golan Heights; PUSSIES.

@Vili Rakoro 9:01...Sa sega ni madua na vakamacala...The Phillipine solders fought back,because they are scared.We all know why Bainimarama is fighting the i Taukei back,axactly,because he is shit scared,and that is right,he does not have the mental fortitude...(2nd paragraph)We can all argue the what its....the its ga nomu JIDAMU.

Vili Rakoro....sa rauta mada na vakamacala.laurai ga vei iko na levu na vakilakila.....macawa nomu vakamacala.Iko wale ga qo o luaci iko na kalou...sa rui tamata proud viavia levu nomu vakarau.Humble yourself tamana.You have some good points but overall you are far behind in grasping the real thing happening in Fiji.Its all got to do with Fiji aligning its self with the World bank policy and later on the one world government that will come into play of which Bainimarama and kyaium are just puppets of.

Its easier for the world Bank & these corrupt evil people to have a dictatorship government in Fiji cos its easier to control.The Democratic system is a stumbling block to their plan cos of the voting system in parliament.Whereas in Fiji, they (world bank,IMF & bilderberg group) have designed a system that the winner of election will always have the majority vote count.

For your info, all this world dictators were puppets of this same institution mentioned above...the likes of Saddam Hussein(Iraq),Mubarak( Eygpt), Muammar Gaddafi (Libya),Osama bin Laden & etc.

what happened to them??all gone & some dead....why??...they became a Frankenstein ...as greed crept in they also understood the game they were playing so they became defensive & aligned themselves with the enemy of the corporation in order to protect them from removal or corporation coups.Russia, China & communist countries are the enemies.So world bank & bilderberg group evolved & strategize better.They will have a puppet leader & a puppet assistance.That is puppet assistance to keep puppet leader in place and doens't end up a Frankenstein like the dictator leader's that i have mentioned earlier.That is, hard to control and to top it up they have a secret department that does the clean up & propaganda for this 21st century dictators & that department is called Qorvis International.

YES VILI RAKORO - FIJI SOLDIERS CAN NEVER COMPARE TO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS.

AT LEAST THERE IS ONE THING THIS NATION IS CLEAR ABOUT AND THAT IS THE FIJI MILITARY IS FAMOUS FOR JUMPING ON THE STOMACH OF PREGNANT WOMEN AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO BOAST ABOUT THEM AGAINST THE AUSTRALIA AND NZ MILITARY!! WHAT A LAUGH!!!

THEY ARE FAMOUS FOR RECTAL TRAUMAS INFLICTED ON CIVILIANS. NOT EVEN DOGS ARE TREATED IN THIS MANNER.

SO SHUT YOUR BIG LOUD TRAP VILI AND HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME BECAUSE NOTHING OF YOUR SHAMELESS DEFENCE OF THESE MILITARY COWARDS WILL EVER BE ACCEPTABLE TO THE PEOPLE OF FIJI.

RFMF ARE GREAT AT MARCHING DISPLAYS AND MAKING FANCY SPEECHES BUT THAT'S JUST ABOUT IT BESIDES BEATING CIVILIANS UP MERCILESSLY LIKE TRUE LOW-LIFE COWARDS AND SHAMING THEMSELVES AT GOLAN!!!

There was a rebellion in Labasa where they ran riot in the town and threatened the residents. Gunmen took over the town and the whole place closed down in 2000 as they went armed and drunk around that town and law and order completely disappeared as the Police officers were threatened by those gunmen and confined to their Police station.

When the Blue squad reached Labasa those rebels were sitting in Church with the visting Col Nalatikau hoping that by sitting in Church they would be protected from the Blue Squad.

The Blue squad entered the Church in the middle of the service and dragged the rebel Officers out of the Church. He was footballed out of the Church and kicked around on the front lawn.

When the young boys who had participated in that anarchy were told to take their medicine some of them started crying.

They were told, if you are man enough to carry a weapon and hold this town and its people terrified for three weeks then you are man enough to take your medicine. Ke o sa via cakava na cakacaka ni tagane, ia taura talega na kena kuita vaka tagane.

They were made to run the line. The Blue squad set up a 15 man gauntlet as their medicine.

Nimacere & Co were hunted by a Company of RFMF soldiers up in the highlands because they posed a threat to the whole nation were they allowed to operate freely in the highlands and set up a safe haven.

They were not allowed to place a foot print in the highlands and hunted day and night by search and destroy teams who were ordered to kill them on sight if they resisted in any way.

In the end what started out as a search for a safe haven for that squad of rebel Meridians and ex prisoners ended up as their worst escape and evasion experience.

They were not given any rest.

Dogs were used to track them, trip flares were used on tracks, ambushes were set up, the road were closed off at choke points and the whole area was saturated with hunter killer squads.

They had been coming down to get food from houses down in the villages and ambush team were set up to wait for them.

As a result they were isolated and unable to get food.

In the end they started surrendering

The plan to take weapons up into the highlands and set up a safe haven from which to operate a rebel army failed to materialise.

If soldiers have real ball don't hide behind guns be a man and pay for the consequences of your act like the CRW soldiers have balls to be punished and serve they time in prison . Some family suffer but they were strong enough to come out from prison as a man and now they move on with life. Some of them have worked abroad. Salute them.

The good Lord also opens our eyes to see the truth in the ways of evil men.

And when the people speak against the evils of the military or the government, the Lord hears their complaints and answers their prayers.

The Lord is merciful to a nation who prays and seeks Him daily.

We owe it to God alone. All men are submissive to God's ruling. Evil men no matter his status will find himself trapped and brought down even though for the moment he thinks he is free to do as he pleases.

The Lord has sent warnings upon warnings but there are too many people who prefer to live a life of falsehood and choose to do evil instead of good. Instead of doing what God commands, they seem to be mesmerized by their own grandiose self-deluded perception and self-importance.

We see this happening in the Fiji Military, the Government of the day and all who support corruption lies and injustice.

Vili has to reach back many years for most of his news clips about RFMF exploits. Maybe because the more recent stories are all about cowardly acts of buturaki, sodomy, belly stomping, treason, murder and surrender.

There is nothing to salute the CRWU rebels for because they have been dishonourably discharged and had their numbers and ranks deleted from the RFMF.

That is what Fijian military History records in the annals of the RFMF and what it remembers, and what future soldiers who enter the gates at Delainabua will also remember because the Military monument which has been constructed to remember the valour and loyalty of the true Red and Green does not (and will not) have the names of rebels etched on its walls.

And that is the sad indictment

Never to be remembered by those who once were your own comrade in arms.

A police officer was shot dead and a TV station ransacked yesterday when a mob supporting the Fijian coup leader George Speight ran riot through the capital, Suva. Mr Speight, who has held the prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, and about 30 other people captive since May 19, said earlier he believed the crisis was close to resolution and the hostages could be freed within 48 hours.

Last night the foreign secretary, Robin Cook, expressed alarm at the surge in violence in the Fijian capital. Eight shots were heard, most of them around the sprawling parliament complex where Mr Chaudhry is being held.

Mr Speight and his supporters took Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister hostage after storming the parliament in the name of indigenous Fijians, who comprise about 51% of the population. Ethnic Indians dominate the country's economy.

Last night Suva's FM 96 radio station said four shots had been fired by a group of youths behind Government House, the waterfront home of the president, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, whose daughter is among the hostages. Journalists said shots had been fired into the tyre of a police vehicle.

Police said one of their officers, Filipo Seavula, had died from gunshot wounds last night after getting caught up in a mob of about 100 indigenous Fijians.

Two soldiers and a TV cameraman were shot and wounded early on Saturday during a confrontation between soldiers and Mr Speight's supporters.

Yesterday, most of the mob gathered in the centre of the city before marching towards the parliament, supported by two vans. Two journalists recognised an armed man in one of the vans as a member of Mr Speight's group camped inside the compound.

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The mob then attacked the nearby state-owned Fiji Television, which had broadcast a programme on the media's treatment of the crisis, and forced it off the air. The programme contained comments critical of Mr Speight, a former insurance salesman.

"The main studio has been utterly trashed," an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio reporter who went to the building said.

"The cameras have been smashed to pieces, there are windows broken everywhere. Apparently the mob just charged in and all the staff ran out the back."

Mr Speight, who had earlier prayed and sung hymns at a Methodist service inside the parliamentary compound, indicated before meeting a 15-man delegation from Fiji's great council of chiefs that the crisis might soon be over.

SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Supporters of Fiji's coup rebels shot and killed two officers and injured three others in an apparent ambush Tuesday outside the capital, the military said.

Authorities were investigating whether a joint army and police patrol was deliberately lured into a trap on the outskirts of Suva, where gunmen opened fire without warning, military spokesman Lt. Col. Filipo Tarakinikini said.

If it was an ambush, the attack would represent a significant escalation in tension between the military and supporters of coup leader George Speight. His supporters were continuing to stir civil unrest in isolated pockets of the South Pacific island nation.

Tarakinikini said a patrol of 10 men was sent to investigate a report that an armed gang had fired shots from a vehicle six miles from Suva.

When the patrol approached a parked pickup truck, gunfire erupted from nearby jungle, triggering a brief gunfight, Tarakinikini said. One soldier and one policeman died. Three other officers were injured.

Tarakinikini said the gang's members were believed to be Speight supporters.

Speight and his inner circle of 12 supporters are in custody on an island off Suva. He has been charged with minor offenses but could face treason charges that might bring him the death penalty.

Speight, a failed businessman, led an armed gang into Parliament on May 19 and took dozens of lawmakers hostage. The last of them were freed after two months once the military agreed to an amnesty for the rebels, discarded the multiracial constitution and ousted the government.

Speight claimed that ethnic Indian Fijians have too much power and threaten indigenous Fijian culture.

FIJIAN gangs have orchestrated a reign of terror against ethnic Indian farming families, ransacking and burning homes, slaughtering livestock and threatening rape and murder.

More than 100 Indians were rescued this week after hiding in forests in fear of their lives for several days. They were taken by bus to sanctuary in a school on the other side of the main island. Many more have fled to relatives in the capital, Suva, 30 miles away. Human rights workers said it was the first orchestrated intimidation recorded against Indians, and appeared to be designed to scare them off the land they farmed.

Suruj Kumar, whose home was attacked by four masked men on Sunday, said yesterday: "I never thought this type of tragedy would happen in this paradise of a place, a democratic country. Before the coup, life was easygoing, but now I have no future here. We were sleeping when they came. They were all indigenous Fijians. They broke a window and shouted, 'You bastard Indians, get off the land'.

"They threatened to rape my daughter and burn the house unless we gave them everything. We gave them clothes and money and the television." Mr Kumar has sent his daughter, two sons and a grandchild who were present on the night of the attack to live with relatives elsewhere, remaining in the house with his wife, Nirmala.

"We are in our sixties. I just want our children safe. We can't sleep, we can't eat, we are so scared, but if they come again we will give them the rest of what we have and at least keep the house." The violence has so far been contained to Naitasiri district, where support is strong for George Speight, the failed businessman who leads the coup launched almost a month ago. It is believed the gangs included ringleaders from his district, Nausori, and men from a village across the river from the Indian communities in Muaniweni and Viria, whose spread-out, isolated homesteads bore the brunt of the attacks.

The son of a shop owner, Amitesh Chandra, who spent three nights in the jungle, said the gangs slaughtered farmers' cattle before their eyes in a deliberate affront to the Hindu religion. The carcasses were loaded on to a police lorry and taken to feed rebels holding Mahendra Chaudhry, the ousted prime minister, himself an Indian, and 30 MPs hostage.

The Prasad family said they were attacked twice, on the evening of the coup, May 19, and the following morning at 3am. A gang of five men in balaclavas and armed with cane knives threw stones at windows and strangled the family's dog. Hirdesh Ashish Prasad, 16, said: "They broke down a door. They said they would burn the house. We were all so frightened. We gave them all our cash, but they returned later. They stole all our chickens, they punched my father and then my sister when she begged them to stop and then took all our equipment."

Some senior military officers plotted the overthrow of the Commander of the Fiji Military Forces a few weeks before the release of the hostages.

According to a report in today's Daily Post (23 September), an army officer revealed that some senior officers had plotted to destabilise the Military so as to force the Army Commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama to resign.

The officer claimed that some advisers to the Commander, mostly of the ranks of colonels and lieutenant colonels, but also including other officers of the ranks of captain and above, were behind the take-over of the military barracks in Labasa. The Post report stated:

"when Lieutenant Rupeni Vosayaco led the mutiny at the Sukanaivalu Barrack in Labasa on July 4, the colonels individually rang him from the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Suva to congratulate him. They also pledged their full support. The officer said the Labasa move was initiated from the QEB [Queen Elizabeth Barracks]. Lieutenant Vosayaco has given the names of these officers to Lieutenant Colonel Jonetani Kaukimoce, who is heading the Board of Inquiry into the Labasa insurrection."

The Post stated further that according to the officer the military planned to storm the Parliament but the Labasa mutiny foiled the plan. This was soon after the military declared a Military Exclusion Zone in Muanikau.

The informant also claimed that the same officers also had a hand in the Korovou and Savusavu civilian occupation of Government offices. "These were all aimed at destabilising Commodore Bainimarama with the ultimate aim of forcing him to resign", wrote the Daily Post. The Officer claimed:

"When the country was in tatters, the officers knew very well how to get the Commander out. It was the same week that the Qaranivalu, Ratu Inoke Takiveikata, led a group of civilians into QEB."

The officer said the Qaranivalu had acted on the advice of these officers. "The plan was to box the Commander into a tight corner which will force him to resign. What happened in Labasa and Korovou was supposed to climax with the Qaranivalu's visit."

The Qaranivalu - the high chief of Naitasiri who also was a key Speight supporter - had visited the Military Commander with about 200 of his subjects apparently asking him in the traditional Fijian way to step down. The Commander had refused this request. In the Parliament Complex, the terrorists were certain that the army Commander would be overthrown and replaced by their person in the military. Who their person was is still not totally certain.

It is believed that attempts to overthrow the Commander are continuing. The country has been rife with rumours that there would be another coup which will include the overthrow of the Commander. Dates floated include October 6, the day the High Court is to hear the People's Coalition case against the military's attempted abrogation of the 1997 Constitution.

According to a radio report his morning, the two were caught with their weapons at a house in Lautoka. The disciplined forces raided the house and captured them. They will be brought before the courts this morning.

The capture confirms the information which the People's Coalition Government received over a month ago that the remaining terrorists are in the western division and not in the bushes in the Naitasiri area. This information was circulated through the People's Coalition posting in mid-August.

It is also believed that the prison escapee Alifereti Nimacere is also in the Western Division.

It is further believed that the terrorists still at large are planning for a major destabilisation campaign around the end of this month which is expected to be violent and bloody. The West is the heart of Fiji's tourism industry. The area also provides a very strong support to the People's Coalition Government.

At present, according to the Military, 32 guns are still missing. Taking out the two which were recovered when the two terrorists were captured, there are at least 30 high quality weapons still in the hands of the terrorists.

Military Speak Out On Nimacere's DeathMonday, 6 November 2000, 10:56 am

By Tamani Nair USP's Pacific Journalism Online

SUVA: Prison fugitive Alifereti Nimacere reached for his gun and tried to flee from his hideout house when Fiji military forces searching for him opened fire, a military spokesperson said today.

Major Howard Politini said Nimacere told Radio Fiji that he died while being taken to the military barracks last night.

He was responding to allegations in the media of human rights violations by the military over Nimacere's death.

Nimacere was captured by troops hunting for escaped rebels following a mutiny on Thursday in which eight soldiers were killed in a battle at Suva's Queen Elizabeth Barracks.

The Fiji Times today reported an eyewitness who said he saw soldiers "kick and punch Nimacere before hitting them with the butts of their firearms".

Radio Fiji quoted Major Politini as saying the military had responded to a tip-off from a policeman that he was in a house in his home village of Nadonumai, near Lami, a seaside township on the outskirts of Suva.

"The area was cordoned off and we moved into the house which we believe that he was sitting inside, drinking whatever," Major Politini said.

"He was identified by the person who told us and as the soldiers moved in. He reached for his weapon and wanted to run out of the house, after us telling him not to do so.

"But he still pulled out his gun and he was shot in our response and the result of two gunshots.

"He died as was being brought to the [Queen Elizabeth Barracks] military camp."

Major Politini said Nimacere had been involved in the ambush at a rural settlement in Navuso in August when one army officer and one policeman were shot dead and three others seriously wounded.

According to the Fiji Times, residents of Nadonumai were in a state of shock after the shootout with Nimacere.

"One man who witnessed the assault said he saw soldiers kick and punch Nimacere before hitting him with the butts of their firearms on a concrete stairway," the paper said.

"'It was a sore sight.'

"'Then they bound him on their vehicle and continued to assault him while driving away,' the witness said."

A young mother told the Fiji Times it was the first time such a horrifying incident had happened in the village.

"We are scared and feel restricted in our movements now because soldiers are continually patrolling the streets," the woman said.

Medical superintendent Dr Salimoni Tuqa told the newspaper Nimacere was already dead when taken to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva at 12.30am today. He was earlier reported to have been seized about 10pm last night.

A FIJIAN rebel died and 33 people were wounded in a clash with the military early today, hours after the coup leader, George Speight, was arrested by the army.

Coup leader George Speight: his immunity from prosecution has been cancelled

In a dramatic twist to the nation's 10-week political crisis, the military moved against Speight yesterday, vowing to prosecute the rebel gang that overthrew the democratic, multiracial government of Mahendra Chaudhry, the ethnic Indian prime minister.

Speight's arrest followed reports that the life of President Ratu Josefa Iloilo had been threatened and that his supporters were freely carrying guns, despite an amnesty agreement under which all weapons were to have been surrendered.

Then, early today, soldiers opened fire at Speight supporters after a number of them tried to get past the Laqere Bridge checkpoint, about eight miles east of Suva, said military officials. "So far, one rebel has lost his life," said a spokesman, Lt Col Filipo Tarakinikini.

The bridge is about a mile from the Kalabu School, where Speight and about 300 supporters have camped out since the siege of parliament ended last week. The military seized Speight, his media adviser, Jo Nata, his lawyer, Tevita Bukarau, and a bodyguard.

Five warning shots were fired by soldiers as Speight and his companions, who were in breach of the curfew, tried to force their way through a roadblock. They face a variety of charges, including threatening to kill Ratu Iloilo. Another military spokesman, Lieut Semi Koroi, said the deal granting the coup plotters immunity from prosecution had been revoked as part of a tough new stance by Fiji's authorities.

Speaking from Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Suva, where the coup leader was being held, Lieut Koroi said: "The amnesty for those who executed the coup is no longer effective. It is null and void. Hence they will have to face the consequences in a court of law as being accused of taking over a democratically elected government and the holding of hostages."

Legal proceedings were unlikely to begin until all rebel guns had been retrieved, he said, adding: "We do not want to take the country to a state of catastrophe." Col Tarakinikini said: "A number of allegations were brought to us about the carriage of arms in and around Suva by George Speight and his bodyguards, and about threats to the head of state."

Speight had threatened new unrest if his candidate for prime minister, Adi Samanunu Cakobau, Fiji's high commissioner to Malaysia, was not accepted in place of the military-backed caretaker prime minister, Laisenia Qarase. Tensions have mounted amid delays by Ratu Iloilo in installing a new administration. A swearing-in ceremony was cancelled at the last minute after Speight threatened civil war if the new cabinet did not include more of his supporters.

To be honest I believe that CRW a foot soldiers same as the rest of regiment. They just followed orders and no senior officer has got the balls to take responsible that's why some of them been kick out because they were sitting on the fence. Kua na vuni meda tagine mada.Its leadership that foot soldiers suffer.

Unvarnished and nothing but the truth about how the country has been stabalised without the need for foreign forces, and in fact in the face of outright destabalisation activities by regional powers, notably Canberra.

That is the measure of the military professionalism of the RFMF.

Stabalising the country and preventing its descent into anarchy brought on by a terrorist insurgency.

I believe that there some weapon that a still missing from the camp during the coup 2000. What make it dangerous is that it could be cache in some where known to this guys which can be use at any time of they choosing.

They are visited by white 4 wheel drives whenever there is information requiting that they be visited and they are told to stay out of trouble because they do not want to revisit the alternative as happened in 2000.

The wise thing to do is follow the law and keep the peace and be good Christians.

I see the RfMF's cut-and-paste unit is back on its shift. Ho-hum, time again simply to scroll past the postings dredging up stories from years ago.

You know, stories from back before we learnt that Bainimarama was the one who orchestrated the events of 2000. That's the one factor that regime sapotas always fail to mention when they talk about the terror of 2000: their hero was the guy behind it all.

Looking back at 2000 with what we now know, it appears that the CRWU were Fiji's last loyal bati. Too bad they didn't have the foresight to anticipate the depth of Bainimarama's cowardice. If only they'd posted someone in the cassava patch to catch the son-of-a-bitch!

The Red and Green don't etch the names of rebels? Hahaha. The RFMF are ALL rebels now, ever since they followed their traitorous commander's unlawful orders by taking up arms against their own country.

Hey come on guys all this shit talk about the past and history has kind of lost the focus on the real culprit. You boys up at Delainabua know very well the situation up there. Every one can carry a gun its just a matter of time before people draw a line and some one loses it. So lets focus on the issues at hand and enough hurling at each other.

The situation in the Southern Philippines isn't one of chaos and anarchy. It's an Islamist secessionist movement that has been prolonged allowed by a corrupt military seeking to exploit it for budgetary gain. The main difference between the Philippines and Fiji is that in the Philippines, the army is fighting against the Islamists. In Fiji, the army has akready been co-opted by the Islamists.

Sarah Verdon and Suzanne HopfTwo Charles Sturt University (CSU) PhD students have received prestigious national awards.

Mrs Suzanne Hopf has been advised that she has received a 2015 Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarship and Ms Sarah Verdon has received a 2015 Endeavour Research Fellowship from the Australian Government.

The students from the CSU School of Teacher Education will live in Fiji while conducting research into children's speech, language, and literacy acquisition.

Their language research occurs within a complex context in Fiji where there are three official languages: English, Fijian (also known as iTaukei Language, or Vosa Vakaviti), and Hindustani. In addition, there are significant speakers of: Fiji Hindi; other non-standard indigenous Fijian languages (eg Lauan); Rotuman; immigrant languages (eg Kiribati, Chinese, Punjabi); and Fiji sign language.

Mrs Hopf said, "I am extremely grateful to receive an Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarship. I acknowledge Australia's commitment to supporting the speech, language, and literacy outcomes of all children in the South Pacific region.

"My research will describe the breadth of ability amongst multilingual Fijian children, and Fijian methods for supporting the speech, language, and literacy needs of all Fijians.

"Outcomes from my research will be used to support Fijians with additional speech, language, and literacy needs in a culturally relevant manner conversant with the growing body of international evidence concerning multilingual education," Mrs Hopf said.

Ms Verdon said, "I am delighted to have been selected to receive this prestigious award. My dream is to provide all children with the opportunity to develop strong skills in speech, language, communication and literacy during their early childhood years.

"The project I have designed is centred around developing a community-based program in Fiji for supporting children's communication and development, where goals are identified by their family and members of their own community to ensure that the program is culturally appropriate, motivating, and functional in supporting children's activity in their everyday lives. The program will be implemented by parents and community members with the guidance and support of my skills as a speech pathologist."

"It is hoped that through training and empowering parents and community members in strategies to support children's communication and development that the program will be sustainable and can continue to be implemented for the benefit of children in the communities into the future and long after my time there has finished. If successful I hope that this program could be implemented in other culturally diverse communities to help promote children's communication development for lifelong participation in society."

Professor Sharynne McLeod, one of Mrs Hopf's and Ms Verdon's CSU PhD supervisors, said, "I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of Suzanne and Sarah, and believe that these awards will enable them to understand the complexity of learning to speak, read and write the many languages within Fiji. Both Sarah and Suzanne will be outstanding ambassadors for Australia and Charles Sturt University as they work closely with children, parents, and teachers in Fiji to support children's speech, language, and literacy acquisition."

Professor McLeod, Mrs Hopf and Ms Verdon are associated with the CSU Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE). More information about Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarships can be found here.

ON my very first visit to this important Pacific nation, I am struck by the widespread sense of optimism shared by so many Fijians.

Election provided an opportunity for the people of Fiji to choose the future they want for their children.

A strong parliamentary system provides a system of checks and balances to ensure people can hold leaders to account. Importantly, Fiji is now a leader in the region in the level of representation by women in Parliament.

Fiji's beautiful natural environment, well educated workforce, and welcoming culture make the country not just a key tourism destination but a global brand for exports of products such as mineral water and natural cosmetics.

After a difficult period following the Global Financial Crisis, the economy has been performing strongly, with Fiji on track for five consecutive years of growth.

Economic growth is leading to real improvements in people's lives. Between 2002 and 2008, the proportion of people living under Fiji's national poverty line fell from 36 per cent to 31 per cent, and is likely to have fallen further since. All boys and girls now have the opportunity to go to school and parents no longer need worry about how they will afford the fees. Since Independence in 1970, life expectancy has increased from 60 years to 70 years.

Of course, like all countries, Fiji continues to face challenges. Optimism needs to be tempered by a degree of caution. Sustaining present strong economic performance will require continued reform to attract new private investment to create employment opportunities and, over time, replace much of the public investment driving today's strong economic performance. Despite improvements, further progress in reducing poverty will be vital to provide opportunities for all to live happy and fulfilling lives. And Fiji like other Pacific island countries remains vulnerable to natural disasters and global economic shocks.

For our part, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to significantly expand our support to help Fiji build on recent progress and address remaining challenges.

We will be seeking the endorsement of our board of directors in early December to make $US350million ($F673m) available to Fiji in the next five years to assist its development efforts. This exceeds the total amount of financing ADB has provided to Fiji since independence. As a development institution owned by regional governments — including Fiji — ADB is able to offer financing on terms which make borrowing from ADB far cheaper than borrowing from commercial banks.

ADB anticipates that financing and knowledge services will be focused on three priorities: helping to sustain strong growth, ensuring that growth can be more inclusive, and building resilience against shocks.

Before the end of the year we will also be requesting board approval for a $US100m ($F191m) investment to finance government programs to improve transport infrastructure, improving access to markets and services for rural communities.

This builds on the 100km of road construction that ADB has financed in Fiji in the past 20 years. In 2015, we also anticipate seeking board approval for a further $US100m investment to provide greater access to water and sanitation for the 330,000 people living along the Suva-Nausori corridor, especially those in rapidly growing peri-urban settlements surrounding the main urban centers.

Fiji led the telecommunications revolution across the Pacific over the past decade, which has dramatically reduced the cost of mobile phones and demonstrated the scope for private business to provide some services more efficiently and effectively than traditional state owned enterprises.

ADB can support further innovation in Fiji by bringing together analytical and technical advice, public sector financing, and commercial financing options.

This will help the Government replicate this success in other sectors, such as energy where anticipated reforms to bring in new private investment would increase access to electricity and reduce reliance on imported diesel fuels.

Given the country's role as a regional leader and hub, further growth and development in Fiji also provides benefits to neighboring countries. Regional leadership by Fiji to encourage greater trade and transport links with neighbours and to pursue opportunities for regional collaboration will be vital to maximise opportunities that will benefit the whole region.

ADB stands ready to help. Assistance from ADB and other development partners adds value because of the knowledge, systems and capacity that accompany it.

To ensure an enduring development impact, development finance must be supported by policy reform, multi-year planning, sound project management and lessons learned from other countries. We look forward to working with all our partners in Fiji on these fronts.

I leave sharing that sense of Fijian optimism, but also with a dose of humility.

Despite gains, none of us can rest on our laurels. ADB looks forward to supporting the government, and the people of Fiji, to achieve your development goals. In doing so we will listen carefully to you to ensure our activities remain responsive, relevant and people-focused.

* Stephen Groff is the Asian Development Bank's vice-president for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He is visiting Fiji from November 5-6. Follow him on Twitter @spgroff.

Dr Drew Allbritten (right) addresses guests while vice-chancellor Ganesh Chand and Professor Susan Kelly look on during the launch of the new Bachelor in Law program at the Nasinu campus in Valelevu yesterday. Picture: ELIKI NUKUTABU+ Enlarge this image

Dr Drew Allbritten (right) addresses guests while vice-chancellor Ganesh Chand and Professor Susan Kelly look on during the launch of the new Bachelor in Law program at the Nasinu campus in Valelevu yesterday. Picture: ELIKI NUKUTABU

The Fiji National University has launched a new Bachelor of Laws (LLB) program.

The new program will now come under the College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism studies.

FNU's LLB degree is offered against the backdrop of the internationally recognised University of London (UOL) which was founded in 1836.

It is a federal institution and has 18 colleges each having almost autonomous powers.

FNU will also provide lectures for the University of London's Bachelor of Law program.

Students who graduate with the LLB program can do either their graduate diploma in legal studies from the University of Fiji's law school either at its Samabula or Saweni campus.

Faculty dean Dr Mahendra Reddy said they would run the new program from the Nasinu campus.

"If students want to graduate from the London Degree they will have to enrol through us where they will take classes with us," Dr Reddy said.

"In collaboration with the University of London, we have come up with this LLB program and working with such recognised institutions will boost the products."

40 years of wait finally ended for the villagers of Nasautoka in Wainibuka, Tailevu earlier this week as received improved water supply system.

The 70 households will now be able to receive safe, piped water into their homes after the Water Authority of Fiji managed to upgrade the existing dam and 5 standpipes and showers in the village.

The villagers through the Water Authority of Fiji's (WAF) rural water supply scheme gave in a tenth of the $44,300 to see their system upgraded in two months.

This supply system not only feeds for residential usage but also a primary school with 120 students five teachers’ quarters.

82-year-old Ratu Semi Seruvakula said the upgrade of the system would provide relief to the women of Nasautoka.

“We thank the Water Authority for coming forward and helping us to construct our water supply systems and we did not have to wait long for the arrival of the WAF workers into our village who executed this project."

"We now see that work has completed hence our problems solved, bringing a big relief to our mothers’ especially."

The Authority says that demand for water in the country is soaring for two primary reasons: a growing population and people adopting more modern, water-intensive lifestyles.

Nabavatu villagers on their new footpath which was built last month. Picture: LUKE RAWALAI+ Enlarge this image

NABAVATU villager Pauliasi Tabucala could not withhold his emotions as he commended the government for finally getting electricity to the village.

The 75-year-old said they were promised electricity in the past, but none of these promises had been fulfilled.

Mr Tabucala said his grandchildren could now stay up at night and study with efficient lighting.

In the past students strained their eyes studying by the light of hurricane lamps.

During an interview with this newspaper, he said the people of Nabavatu were gradually purchasing electrical appliances to make their daily life easier.

With their connection to the power grid, he said villagers now felt first- hand what development was all about.

Mr Tabucala said they were grateful to the government for including Nabavatu in its electrification program.

Meanwhile, Nabavatu Village headman Ponipate Vonuqaqa said villagers were also revelling in their new $17,000 footpath.

Mr Vonuqaqa said this project was commissioned last month and was made possible with a contribution of $5000 from government, $2000 from the Korean Ambassador to Fiji while $10,000 was collected by the villagers.

Mr Vonuqaqa said the footpath would assist villagers, particularly the elderly.

6/28/2013The people of Waikubukubu village, which lies in the interior of Tavua district, in the Ba province got connected for the first time to electricity as part of a solar energy initiative by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation.

The new energy source, means well for the 300 villagers who are part of the growing number of communities assisted through the same programme which enabled women to train as solar engineers at the Barefoot college in India.

Minister Dr Jiko Luveni said the solar electrification project is reflective of Government’s commitment and partnership with rural communities and the provision of new opportunities to improve livelihoods.

Yesterday, she joined villagers and government officials to commission the solar electrification project.

“I am delighted to be here to witness a great milestone achieved for this village. I congratulate the solar engineer for her hardwork that has led to successful installation of the solar lights,” Dr Luveni said.

“Last week similar success was witnessed in Nakorovou village in Bua and in the coming days eight other villages in Fiji will be solar electrified. We are grateful to the Barefoot College and UN Women for their partnership in making this project a success.”

Waikubukubu village headman (turaga ni koro) Inia Naicavacava said this achievement would be remembered by his people because this is the first time for the village to get electricity since its establishment 120 years ago.

“Since the time of our forefathers this village didn’t have any electricity we had continued to live in darkness, with the hope that someday we will have the lights. And today our prayers have been fulfilled, with the 57 houses being solar electrified,” Mr Naicavacava said.

“Each house has three bulb lights and one lantern light. The installation took three weeks and everyone in the village assisted the engineer to put up the panels on the roofs.”

Mr Naicavacava said the only light source to the villagers before were through kerosene lamps which was both difficult and costly.

“Before the only source of light was kerosene lamp and it was both difficult and expensive for us to go all the way to town to buy the kerosene but now the solar lights offers an environment friendly, affordable and brighter source of light in our homes,” he added.

Mr Naicavacava acknowledged Government’s assistance and highlighted that it would empower close to 80 school children in their studies.

“The solar lights will also provide a safe environment, particularly for women and girls. We can also charge mobile phones using the solar power,” Mr Naicavacava added.

Waikubukubu village solar engineer Lautaini Nabua said the installation of solar power had been made possible through the support of the solar committee.

“The solar committee has been very active in ensuring the installation and all the households have to pay five dollars a month for maintenance. There is also a good support from the men and the youths,” Ms Nabua said.

“This project is very important, it has proven that regardless of qualifications, a woman can achieve anything. I went up to only class eight and despite that I am proud to say that today I am a solar engineer and have the skills to solar electrify my village.

“I thank the government in particular Dr Luveni for her continued motivation and belief in women. Empowering us to acquire skills of solar electrification. We believe this is a new beginning for a much brighter future for the people of Waikubukubu.”

More than $700 million worth of investments is expected to create thousands of jobs in the Capital City over the next few years as a number of new hotels and buildings are expected to be constructed.

Suva City Council Special Administrator Chandu Umaria confirmed that while construction has started on the Captain Cook Hotel in Mitchell Road and the Fiji National Provident Fund three storey development at Greig Street, other projects are expected to start in the next six months.

A 15-storey commercial building is expected to be constructed at corner of Goodenough street and Loftus Street with a projected cost of $15 million while a 20-storey building at Mc Gregor Road is expected to cost $100 million.

Umaria says Frontier Investment Limited’s 30 storey building at Forster Street is expected to cost $40 million while Carpenters Properties 26 storey development at Town hall road behind the Fiji Development building is expected to cost $420 million.

The Fiji International is proud to announce its partnership with the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for the tournament’s inaugural staging.

At a press conference held this morning ANZ, through their Fiji Branch, was announced as the Official Banking Partner of the Fiji International.

“The inaugural Fiji International Golf Tournament presents a great opportunity to connect on a platform of great importance for the sustainability of Tourism in Fiji and the Region,” said ANZ CEO Pacific and CEO Fiji, Mr Vishnu Mohan.

“We are very pleased to be the official banking partner, working closely with the tournament promoters, Fiji Government and other commercial sponsors towards a very successful tournament.”

“This partnership also portrays ANZ’s commitment to Fiji and the international visibility that this event brings to it,” Mr Mohan added.

As a Silver Sponsor of the Fiji International ANZ will provide a range of banking services to the tournament as well as providing electronic banking services on site at the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course during tournament week.

The Fiji International is the latest addition to ANZ’s strong international sponsorship portfolio which also includes the Australian Open (tennis), Shanghai Masters (tennis) and ANZ Championship (netball) among others.

Natalie Ritter, General Manager of the Fiji International says that the partnership with ANZ is a fantastic addition to the tournament.

“We are pleased to be aligned with such a well respected brand in ANZ. We look forward to working with them to ensure the success of the tournament in its inaugural year,” she said.

“The Fiji International is Fiji’s first international broadcast golf tournament which will provide ANZ and our other sponsors with exposure in more than 30 countries around the world.”

While Matt Porm, Head of Commercial for the Fiji International for SEL highlighted ANZ’s commitment to golf in the Fiji region.

“This partnership represents the willingness of ANZ to align with an international golf tournament as well as Fiji`s biggest international event,” said Porm.

“ANZ’s partnership with the tournament is its first major foray into the sport at this level for many years and shows the value they are placing on golf and its development in Fiji”

In its inaugural year the Fiji International has attracted a strong field headlined by Fiji hero Vijay Singh, Major champion Nick Price and India’s number one player Anirban Lahiri.

The Fiji International will be played at Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course from 14-17 August and will be Fiji’s first internationally broadcast golf tournament.

Being played for a US$1 million prize purse the Fiji International will be co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and OneAsia.

Proudly supported by the Fijian Government, the Fiji International is expected to produce a multi-million dollar boost for the local economy, in addition to flow on benefits including the growth of the game in the region.

Designed by Singh, the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course is renowned for its sparkling backdrop of coral reefs and the Pacific Ocean that line 15 out of the 18 championship holes.

1/30/2015Representatives of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma; The Principal and Staff of the Navuso Agricultural School; Distinguished Guests; Trainee Farmers; and My Fellow Fijians.

Bula vinaka and a very good afternoon to you all.

I’m delighted to be here in Navuso today to mark another significant event in the rejuvenation of this once great institution. And to lend my personal support to help Navuso resume the position it deserves in our national life.

I am not just here to open the new boy’s hostel, but to encourage you all to pursue the excellence that we all know this place is capable of. Because it was once great and we are determined to make it great again.

Over many years, the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma has done the nation a great service by producing many young farmers to contribute to Fiji’s agricultural base. Someone of my age can recall that in the 1960s and 70s – for instance -Navuso was a highly respected institution.

Indeed, one of its former principals, Douglas Walkden-Brown, eventually became Minister for Agriculture in the Fijian Government after Independence.

That tradition continued for some years. But over time, I think we can all agree that Navuso lost its way. This was a great shame. Because that neglect was not only at the cost of the livelihood of many ordinary Fijians with an ambition to take up farming, but the nation’s food production as a whole.

As we all know and recognise, my Government’s relationship with the Methodist Church hasn’t always been easy. In fact, we have had some strong differences over the Church’s proper role in national life. And I still think that far too many talatalasare more intent on playing politics than catering for the spiritual needs of our people.

But I am sure we all agree that it is important to give our young people the best possible chance to gain the skills they need to make sustainable and prosperous livelihoods for themselves in the farming sector and contribute to the nation’s food production.

We also agree that it is simply not acceptable for Fiji to continue to import foodstuffs that could easily be grown in here - and even exported - if we make a determined effort to work together to give our young people the right training to expand our food production.

So today, I want to emphasise our unity of purpose – not our differences – when I say that the Government fully supports Navuso’s core objective to train farmers for one of Fiji’s most important priorities.

We must give more Fijians the opportunity to enter the agricultural sector by equipping them with the best possible skills and training. We must offer them the prospect of making healthy and sustainable livings for themselves, their families, and through that, the wider community. And we must all focus our minds on reducing our dependency on food exports and making Fiji a powerhouse of food production.

We are doing this as a Government with a range of scholarships and incentives – notably working with the Fiji National University – to attract more young Fijians into farming. And we intend to assist Navuso Agricultural School to do the same.

In March 2013, I promised that we would assist Navuso to improve its infrastructure. And the opening of this new dormitory today is a promise fulfilled.

To the young people who are students here, I have much the same message that I take to schools and colleges around the country. Take advantage of the education revolution that this Government has provided – working hand in hand with institutions like the Methodist Church - to seize the opportunities that have been given to you. Work as hard as you can. Dream big dreams. Reach for the stars.

But also be aware of this: By wanting to be a farmer, my Government regards you as one of the most important development partners we have in improving the lives of our people and developing our economy.

When I say dream big dreams, it is no longer enough just to tend your own plot - your own teitei - to grow crops or rear animals for your own needs and the needs of your community. We need to move Fiji in the direction of larger scale food production. And that means acquiring new skills as you move through your studies.

You need to learn not only how to grow things and rear animals, but the more commercial aspects of farming. How to market your produce more effectively; turn your activity into a serious business; expand your potential to make more income for yourself; provide employment for others who don’t have the advantage of your training, and help grow the Fijian economy.

Farming is a business like any other. And with hard work and imagination, you too can be a successful businessman or businesswoman and contribute to the wealth and prosperity of the Fijian people.

I pay tribute to the current management and staff of Navuso for sharing these principles. I’m told that yourcurriculum has become a lot more holistic and business-orientated. At the end of the program here, trainee farmers will be provided with proper business plans for farms of their own that they can take to a bank to get funding.

I urge everyone to ensure that these plans are viable, realistic and factually based to give you all the best possible chance of success. Too often in the past, farming businesses have failed because they haven’t met the proper standards.

We all need – as stakeholders in our economy – to adopt the best practice of any business – integrity, transparency and accountability. Because the more successful trainee farmers we can produce, the more our banks – as well as potential investors – will be prepared to provide the necessary finance.

My Government – working with the Methodist Church – will do everything it can to help you. But success or failure is ultimately down to you.

So again I say: Work hard. Seek the best possible advice from your teachers, read more about best practice in agriculture, take advantage of my Government’s Telecentres and other tools you have access to - to explore the world of knowledge about farming and give yourself the best possible shot at success.

Thank you to all of you who have made this new hostel possible. I now have great pleasure to officially declare it open.

The cut-and-paste mob are at it again, this time rehashing Fiji Sun articles publicising projects of the Bainimarama government.

That's not hard to do, since newspapers in Fiji are only allowed to write "good news" praising the government.

It's also not hard to do since the Fiji Sun has become a mouthpiece of Sayed-Khaiyum.

Even in a neutral media environment, it wouldn't be too hard to do because Bainimarama stole the treasury, forced us to pay our taxes to him, and borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars against Fiji's credit to bankroll his projects, without scrutiny and without any accountability whatsoever.

Now Bainimarama's hired goons are inundating Fiji's main opposition website with cut-and-paste articles that in some cases date back to decades ago. Is this what our tax dollars go for -- distributed denial of service attacks against Fiji's only free media?